(Federal Appeals) Court gives Obama a week to decide (re: executive privilege of ex-Bush aides)

[sabra]

Source: Politico

A federal appeals court has agreed to give President Barack Obama a little more time—but only a little— to decide whether to support...

...one of President Bush’s most controversial uses of executive privilege. The new administration had asked for a two-week extension until March 4 to decide whether to fight a judge’s ruling that Bush could not use executive privilege to shield his aides from testifying before Congress – a case likely to have implications for whether Karl Rove will have to testify.

However, in an order filed Thursday, the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals gave the Justice Department only until Wednesday to settle on its position.

Officially, the court case involves only a former White House counsel under Bush, Harriet Miers, and a chief of staff, Josh Bolten. However, a ruling in the case would probably resolve a more pressing issue—whether Rove has to testify about the same issues before a House Judiciary Committee hearing investigation into alleged politicization at the Justice Department.

Read more: http://www.politico.com/politico44/perm/0209/countdown_on_executive_privelege_c7ced05c-dec9-4cba-ab14-5684db649dab.html

[Jefferson23]

1. This I am anxious to hear about from Obama.

If you haven't already, e-mail John Conyers asking him to not cut a deal for Rove.

[DeeDeeNY]

2. Calling him is even better

202-225-5126

[No Elephants]

3. This is about as dramatic as it gets in American government. All three co-equal branches of

government locking horns.

[riderinthestorm]

4. 5th rec and a bump. Come on folks. This is way too important to drop. nt

[struggle4progress]

5. Ex-Bush Aides Given More Time to File Court Briefs (CQ)

CQ TODAY ONLINE NEWS – LEGAL AFFAIRS
Feb. 19, 2009 – 6:59 p.m.

By Keith Perine, CQ Staff

The U.S. Circuit Court for the District of Columbia has ordered two former Bush White House aides to file their opening brief on Feb. 25 in their appeal of a House Judiciary Committee lawsuit seeking enforcement of committee subpoenas.

Former White House counsel Harriet Miers and chief of staff Joshua B. Bolten were originally supposed to file that brief Wednesday. But the Justice Department asked the court for a two-week delay to give all sides time to strike a deal to settle the case out of court ...

On Jan. 16, a few days before he left office, Bush instructed Rove not to comply with any new subpoenas on the subject of the attorney firings. As of Feb. 13, <Rove's counsel> Luskin had not heard from White House counsel Gregory B. Craig about President Obama’s position in the affair ...

On Jan. 26, Conyers subpoenaed Rove to appear at a Feb. 2 deposition. But he postponed the deposition to Feb. 23 at Rove’s request so Luskin could confer with the White House. Conyers decided to issue the Feb. 13 subpoena after Luskin made clear that, at least for now, Rove considers himself bound by Bush’s instruction not to testify about the federal prosecutor firings ...

http://www.cqpolitics.com/wmspage.cfm?docID=news-000003057363

As usual, I distrust Politico's spin