Contempt of Congress; About Time!

I received an e-mail from Congressman John Conyers office today stating that he was going to introduce a bill in the House as soon as the calendar was open. This bill would formerly charge the administration with “Contempt of Congress” for not giving Congress the material on the firings of the Assistant US Attorneys that had been requested last summer. The letter is here:

Dear Timothy,

I wanted to take the opportunity to update you on the status of the contempt of Congress resolution in the House of Representatives.

As you may know, the Judiciary Committee passed a resolution before the August recess holding the White House and Harriet Miers in contempt of Congress for their failure to provide documents and appear before the committee as legally required by subpoena.


The information we have received to date from the Justice Department from our U.S. Attorneys investigation indicates the White House played a central role in the firing of the nine federal prosecutors. Yet, the White House has stonewalled and consistently refused to cooperate with inquiries into this matter.

At the heart of our investigation is the evidence uncovered suggesting that the nine U.S. Attorneys were fired for politically-motivated reasons, while others may have been retained because they were pursuing partisan investigations.

We have also discovered that job candidates' political contributions and affiliations were considered in hiring decisions for nonpartisan positions in the Department of Justice. Our job has been made more difficult by apparent misleading testimony from the Attorney General and other Department of Justice officials.

This politicization of our judicial system cannot be tolerated. Our citizens have a right to expect that federal prosecutions will be conducted in a fair and nonpartisan manner.

There are many steps we can take in this confrontation with the White House. Some are more extreme than others. What we must first do is get the facts that show who made these decisions in the White House. Only once we have this evidence can we adequately pursue justice.

What is now required is for the House to pass this contempt of Congress citation and pursue legal action against the White House and Harriet Miers for their failure to meet the requirements of the subpoenas. Hopefully this contempt of Congress resolution will soon have a vote on the floor of the House. I am not prepared to allow this administration to operate above the law.

Thank you for your continued support for a better democracy.

Your Friend,

John Conyers, Jr.

I wrote in my last article “A Most Important Time in American History” that Congress do just this type of work. That this administration could disregard Congress, and refuse the forwarding of material that Congress requested is a crime unto itself. It is about time that our Congress does the oversight work that our Constitution says it should. To do anything else is also against what this nation stands for. Our Judiciary as it pertains to the Attorney Generals office should be completely transparent and dedicated to the rule of law, not partisan and acting on the whims of the executive branch. Now that Congress has said that they will act, it’s time to hold “their feet to the fire” and to make sure that they don’t disregard this blatant act of criminality.

This is how I see it.