Similar, not quite the same. I agree wholeheartedly that everyone must submit to the power of the Judiciary branch of government, which is what has generally happened in these cases. However, it is quite another thing for senior officials in the Executive branch to submit to the will of the Legislative branch. There is a decent discussion of the issues in USA Today:
http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2007-03-22-subpoena-showdown_N.htm?POE=NEWISVA Note that Eisenhower won a fight to keep his aides from testifying before the McCarthy hearings- the Executive, not the Judiciary. This is not a partisan issue, it is a Consitutional issue of balance of government. The Judiciary branch should be the arbiters of disputes between the Executive and the Legislative branches, that is their role. I've just had a thought about how it could work: 1. Congress shall have the power to subpoena witnesses, including members of the Executive branch, e.g. the White House (except the President, who must be impeached) 2. The White House shall have the power to appeal the subpoena to either the Supreme Court or the Federal Appeals Court for the District of Columbia. (I'm tempted to say the appeal should always go the the Supreme Court, but that could put a huge administrative burden on them, so I'm thinking it should go to the appeals court) 3. The Court shall have the power to rule whether or not said officials should appear before Congress. 4. The Court shall have the power to hold members of the White House (excluding the President) in contempt for failing to appear before Congress. 5. The Court shall have the power to hold members of Congress in contempt for frivolous action (e.g. politicized subpoenas) Reactions? On Sat, Aug 2, 2008 at 7:18 PM, Maureen wrote: > So did Nixon, and the Supreme ruled against him. Have you never heard > of Watergate? Holding Nixon accountable certainly didn't "paralyze" > the government. > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| Adobe® ColdFusion® 8 software 8 is the most important and dramatic release to date Get the Free Trial http://ad.doubleclick.net/clk;203748912;27390454;j Archive: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/CF-Community/message.cfm/messageid:265195 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/CF-Community/subscribe.cfm Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/unsubscribe.cfm?user=89.70.5
