Testify or Impeach

In the coming weeks, we are going to find out whether members of Congress have any respect for the institution they represent. We will see whether they have the courage to stand up to the Bush administration and defend the Constitution they took an oath to protect. Specifically, we will discover whether they are willing to take the measures necessary to ensure that Bush administration officials testify before Congress.

On July 10, the U.S. House Judiciary Committee held a hearing to investigate the firings of nine U.S. Attorneys in 2006 and the questionable prosecution and imprisonment of former Alabama governor Don Siegelman. Karl Rove, a potentially key figure in both incidents, was issued a subpoena to testify before the committee. Rove failed to appear.

Congress now has a few options here. First, they could pass criminal contempt charges against Rove, as the House did against White House chief of staff Josh Bolten and former White House counsel Harriet Miers. This is good, but will not result in immediate testimony.

The second option is to have Karl Rove arrested, under the theory of inherent contempt, and brought to Congress to testify. This is better, but may still be eventually unsatisfying if Rove ends up testifying yet asserts executive privilege repeatedly in order to avoid disclosing important information.

Another option -- which probably has the most potential for effectively compelling testimony -- is to tell the president immediately that he will be impeached if members of his administration do not provide full testimony before Congress by a certain date. This has historical precedent as one of the three articles of impeachment ultimately brought against President Richard Nixon was based on his refusal to comply with congressional subpoenas.

The final option is to do nothing and set a precedent for the future by which any administration can claim that Congress does not have the ability to force executive branch officials to testify before Congress. This would be an affront to our Constitution and Congress is dancing perilously close to this line already.

We cannot allow Congress to become subservient to the executive branch. They absolutely must exert their oversight authority and force administration officials to testify. For the sake of our nation and the principles upon which our government was established, I urge them to take whatever steps are necessary to compel testimony from Karl Rove and others.

I will be watching to see how our legislators handle this situation.