Welcome to Gonzales Watch - Blawging the Ex-Attorney General

New York Times Washington correspondent Philip Shenon has a terrific video piece on Attorney General Gonzales’ resignation from the “Texas Mafia.”

Shenon explains that this described “the small group of aides that Bush brought with him to Washington from Texas.” In addition to Gonzales, that group also included another Texas lawyer: former White House Counsel Harriet Miers.

George T. Manning (inset, left), a lawyer representing former White House Counsel Harriet Miers in Congress’ attempt to enforce a subpoena for her knowledge of, and communications concerning the firing of U.S. Attorneys, said that President Bush’s claim of executive privilege gives her “absolute immunity” from being made to testify before the Senate.

On June 13, the Senate Judiciary Committee issued a subpoena for Miers. The subpoena sought “[c]omplete and unredacted versions, including paper and electronic versions, of any and all documents in your possession, custody or control related to the Committee’s investigation into the preservation of prosecutorial independence and the Department of Justice’s politicization of the hiring and firing of United States Attorneys.”

Since White House Counsel Fred Fielding continues to assert Executive Privilege in his client’s defense, the real question is when the Committee will litigate this issue in Court?

White House Counsel Fred Fielding rejected subpoenas from Congress seeking documents and testimony from former White House aides to President Bush in the Justice Department’s U.S. Attorney firings scandal .

The full text of Fielding’s letter can be read below.

On June 13th, the Senate and House subpoenaed former White House Counsel Harriet Miers and White House Political Director Sarah Taylor.

The subpoena for ex-White House Counsel Harriet Miers sought “[c]omplete and unredacted versions, including paper and electronic versions, of any and all documents in your possession, custody or control related to the Committee’s investigation into the preservation of prosecutorial independence and the Department of Justice’s politicization of the hiring and firing of United States Attorneys.”

Fielding tells Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy (Dem. - Vt.) and House Committee on the Judiciary Chairman John Conyears (Dem. - Mich.) that Executive Privilege protects Pres. Bush from having to respond to the subpoenas: “where the President’s authority to appoint and remove U.S. Attorneys is at stake, the institutional interest of the Executive Branch is very strong.”

Using litigator’s language, Fielding stressed that “the President’s assertion of [Executive Privilege] here comports with prior practices in similar contests, and that it has been appropriately documented.” (emphasis added).

White House Counsel Fred Fielding rejected the Senate Judiciary Committee’s subpoenas served yesterday demanding information about the legal rationale and justifications behind the White House’s warrantless domestic surveillance program, or what President Bush calls the “Terrorist Surveillance Program.”

As anticipated, Fielding is claiming that Executive Privilege exempts the White House from having to comply with the subpoenas, including subpoenas previously served on former White House Counsel Harriet Miers and Political Director Sarah Taylor.

Here is the full text of Fielding’s letter and its legal rationale: