The United States Congress subpoenaed Josh Bolton, Harriet Miers and Karl Rove last summer, calling them to testify about politically motivated firings of U.S. Attorneys, a saga whose strangest manifestation has been the jailing of former Alabama Governor Don Seligman. President Bush ordered his staffers to ignore the subpoenas.

This flagrant violation of Constitutional checks and balances persisted for months as Congressmen sent letters of protest and disgust to the White House. Finally, the House of Representatives voted to hold Bolton and Miers in contempt. Karl Rove was declared in contempt by a House subcommittee. Contempt was appealed, rejected and a stay denied. Miers is scheduled to appear before Congress Thursday.

Federal judge John Bates, appointed by Bush, told White House lawyers there was Supreme Court precedent clearly requiring White House officials to honor Congressional subpoenas. He said their argument was "entirely unsupported by existing case law" and demanded that Miers testify and invoke executive privilege on a question-by-question basis and that Bolton produce documents related to the firings.

Testimony already given and known documents prove that all 93 federal attorneys were ranked according to "loyalty to the President and Attorney General" and that several of the fired attorneys were pressured to pursue weak cases against Democrats or throw cases against Republicans. Officials such as Karl Rove wanted charges filed against certain incumbents whether those charges had a basis or not.

Also, evidence already in the record shows Miers knew of the plans to fire disloyal attorneys and had concerns about it. She suggested all 93 be fired, as is traditional when a new administration takes office, rather than just singling out a few, as was done.

Despite having no basis for ignoring Congress or a citation of contempt and no basis to force the judicial branch to enforce a Congressional subpoena, lawless motherfuckers charading as honest men appealed to the U.S Court of Appeals claiming Bates has no jurisdiction. If that were true, they should never have asked him for a stay.

Here is Full-of-it Fielding flubbering his fatuous path around the law: "this litigation is very important in determining constitutional contours governing certain relations between the Executive and Legislative Branches in the Congressional oversight setting." The shit is so thick you can hear him gagging.

This is flagrant abuse of the legal system, and the Court of Appeals gave the Justice Department this weekend to make their case. Justice must submit its argument Monday; Congressional lawyers have until Wednesday to respond. Miers' testimony will likely be rescheduled, but perhaps Congressional attorneys can submit their argument Tuesday and ask for summary judgment.

Congressional attorney Irv Nathan told Judge Bates "we're being dunced around here" and said negotiations with White House lawyers over terms under which Bolton and Miers would comply have been "completely useless. We have not found willing partners on the other side of the table."

The Bush administration is riddled with criminals, and perverse legal delays are all that keep steel doors from validating the charge. Cheney and Rumsfeld should be imprisoned and their dozens or hundreds of co-conspirators given immunity for cooperation or pardons once the true traitors are convicted.