Rove defies subpoena

[JimH52]

Rove ignores subpoena, refuses to testify - Yahoo! News

I say throw his fat butt in jail and let him become someone's cell princess.

 

[RetiredGySgt]

Rove ignores subpoena, refuses to testify - Yahoo! News

I say throw his fat butt in jail and let him become someone's cell princess.

Except they don't have the power.

 

[nomdeplume]

I've read the constitution over several times, and I don't recall the congress having any powers of subpoena.

 

[AllieBaba]

Congress is not a court, and congressmen are not judges.

 

[busara]

Congress is not a court, and congressmen are not judges.

thank god for that

 

[AllieBaba]

No kidding. They like to pretend, though.

 

[manifold]

Congress is not a court, and congressmen are not judges.

Not really fair when you consider that judges get to be legislators.

 

[Diuretic]

Of course he won't front up - he has too much to hide. Someone with a clear conscience would be waiting at the door, eager to clear his name from scurrilous allegations.

 

[AllieBaba]

Not really fair when you consider that judges get to be legislators.

Which they aren't supposed to be doing. Hopefully that will come to an end during our lifetime. I think people will eventually see the folly of allowing it. I hope.

 

[Ravi]

Which they aren't supposed to be doing. Hopefully that will come to an end during our lifetime. I think people will eventually see the folly of allowing it. I hope.

You mean like the recent SCOTUS ruling on DC's gun laws?

 

[AllieBaba]

Of course he won't front up - he has too much to hide. Someone with a clear conscience would be waiting at the door, eager to clear his name from scurrilous allegations.

I love the lefty assumption that if you have nothing to hide, you should be happy to be dragged before the wolves. It's like the witch trial mentality. Strap them to a weighted chair and sink them beneath the water....if they're innocent, they'll be happy to submit!

 

[JimH52]

Sounds like waterboarding. bush would be proud.

 

[AllieBaba]

I know. That waterboarding is so horrible when compared to using a big knife to decapitate a journalist on TV.

 

[Gunny]

You mean like the recent SCOTUS ruling on DC's gun laws?

Nope. That is SCOTUS's job. To interpret the law. There is nothing in SCOTUS's interpretation outside the Second Amendment.

 

[Taco]

Of course congress can legally compel him to testify.

You guys really don't know that? Contempt of Congress is a real thing.

Rove, needs to behave, that fukkin evil son of a bitch.

 

[Steerpike]

Of course congress can legally compel him to testify.

Not necessarily. They're claiming executive privilege. The Legislative and Executive are co-equal branches of government. There is nothing that inherently gives Congress the power to compel a member of the Executive to testify on Executive matters than there is a power that would allow the Executive branch to haul legislators in for questioning.

 

[Taco]

Is that, then, only under impeachment hearings?

 

[Taco]

All I know is, there is a thing called a Congressional Subpoena, and in many respects, Congress can and does function like a court.

I mean, what are we left with if the enforcers are all just letting each other off?

I fear our only option is..... ugly.

 

[Steerpike]

Is that, then, only under impeachment hearings?

In cases of Impeachment the Congress has specific powers granted to it under the Constitution.

But let's say Rove continues to say "No" and then Congress holds him in contempt. The Executive branch could continue to say it doesn't matter and that the contempt order isn't valid.

Thing get a bit tricky when you're dealing with one branch of the government actively trying to constrain the other, except in cases where one branch has clear Constitutional authority to check the other (or in cases of judicial review by the Courts where is has been long settled that the courts have the power).

 

[Taco]

Hmmmm....seems congress, in the end, should trump the executive in these kinds of things.