NYT editorial: Holding Mr. Rove in Contempt

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is deciding what matters should get priority in the short time left before Congress adjourns this month. Her list must include a vote to hold Karl Rove in contempt for his lawless decision to defy a Congressional subpoena to testify about the United States attorneys scandal. There is a vital national interest in getting to the bottom of this matter — and in not allowing Congress’s authority to be undermined.

It has been nearly two years since Congress first began asking questions about the firing of nine United States attorneys, who appear to have been removed for partisan political reasons. Mr. Rove may have been directly involved in these possibly illegal firings, but he has not told Congress what he knows. In defiance of a legally binding subpoena, he refused this summer to appear before the House Judiciary Committee.

Congress’s investigation of the United States attorneys matter is of the utmost importance. It now seems clear that the Justice Department under Attorney General Alberto Gonzales operated as a partisan political actor, using its prosecutorial authority to help the party in power win elections. That was a grave abuse, which undermined American democracy.

There are real victims in this scandal. Don Siegelman, the former governor of Alabama, was sentenced to seven years in prison as a result of a prosecution that appears to have been politically motivated. Mr. Siegelman is free pending an appeal, but he has already served part of the sentence and could end up returning to prison.

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