House Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers has former presidential advisor Karl Rove to testify twice on his role in the Bush administration鈥檚 politicization of the Department of Justice. Now, if Mr. Rove鈥檚 message on the Fox TV show is to be believed, he plans to once again ignore Congress by failing to appear and testify under oath.
Last year in response to his first subpoena, Rove claimed that Congress cannot compel a former presidential adviser to testify. In a from then White House Counsel Fred Fielding, the Bush White House called this 鈥渁bsolute immunity.鈥�
Wow!
That sounds ominously like that famous Nixon quote 鈥渨hen the president does something, it is not illegal.鈥� Rove should probably see Frost/Nixon, so he is reminded how badly this approach usually ends.
One of the fastest ways to restore a meaningful check on executive authority is for Congress and the President to speak with one voice and compel Rove鈥檚 testimony.
A recent New York Times , 鈥淎 New Subpoena for Karl Rove,鈥� is right when it notes, 鈥淎mericans deserves a full accounting.鈥�
As the hiring scandals of 2007-2008 revealed (and Mr. Rove oversaw), the Department of Justice has become overly politicized in the past eight years. Politics has been allowed to trump fidelity to the law.
The newly confirmed attorney general should create a blue-ribbon commission to study and make recommendations on remedying the politicization of the Department of Justice under the Bush administration. The commission should report on its recommendations within 90 days.
