Waiting for Rove

By Dan Froomkin
Special to washingtonpost.com
Friday, August 1, 2008

How long until former White House political guru Karl Rove is forced to answer to Congress?

Yesterday's landmark judicial opinion rejecting the White House claim that presidential aides are immune from congressional oversight has energized Democratic leaders, who are now demanding that top Bush advisers appear at congressional hearings as early as next month.

But the Bush White House has proved masterful at stalling. And if it succeeds at running out the clock, it may be the next president who must decide whether this one's aides are called to account.

U.S. District Court Judge John D. Bates yesterday ordered Harriet Miers, the former White House counsel, and Joshua C. Bolten, the White House chief of staff, to cooperate with the House Judiciary Committee's investigation into the politicization of the Justice Department, including the mass firings of U.S. attorneys in 2006. Rove has cited the same no-longer-operative excuse to defy congressional subpoenas. (See yesterday's column for more on the court ruling.)

Richard B. Schmitt writes in the Los Angeles Times: "Democrats said Bates' 93-page ruling vindicated their dogged efforts to check potential abuses under Bush, and tentatively set hearings for September. They said they expected White House officials to appear then to answer questions about the controversy over the fired prosecutors, which led to the resignation of Bush confidant and former Atty. Gen. Alberto R. Gonzales last year."

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