Gonzales: What Comes Next?
Long day watching Gonzales dissemble. It strikes me that there are several approaches that the Democrats in Congress can adopt to continue their investigation of what remains of the judicial system. MOst of them, in my estimation, die quickly on grounds either theoretical and practical.
Why is contempt a dead-end pursuit? The Bush administration has made it abundantly clear that there are uninterested in this investigation. More importantly, they are willing to hamper any further investigation by the Congress via their D.C. Attorney (added snark: the interim-appointed U.S. Attorney). The move is a bit of an ace in the whole on the part of White House Counsel Fred Fielding, and to be fair, its a good move. From my understanding, the White House has what little legal precedent exists on the matter leaning in its favor. And Congress has none of the advantages it would need to countermand Fielding: the Democratic leadership hasn’t shown signs of handling this thrust of strategy, the public is outraged but distracted and the head of the Supreme Court has given ample sign that he would support the executive.
Neither is a vote of inherent contempt a good idea. I know it was used early in the last century, but I find it hard to see anyone mustering enough Republican Senate to go rounding up former White House aides and throwing them in the brig. Besides, I don’t even know where the Congressional jail is these days.
Which leaves only the appointment of a special prosecutor. I think this is the only way this investigation can carry on with any real repercussions any eventual uncovering of criminality. Let’s face it: this is a D.C. scandal, which I suppose is a polite way of saying it has proven to be procedurally complex. Congress is going to find it harder and harder to carry its work forward on the grounds of public outrage, especially when it is trying to push the administration on so many other fronts. Too many attacks on Bush, no matter how well-deserved, look petty and partisan.
A special prosecutor frees Congress to pursue other avenues of confrontation. It is also free of the obstructions that are going to run this investigation down over the next two years. There will be the obvious complaint that special prosecutors are a bad idea (esp. if the Dems appoint Fitzgerald) and that they historically always return some wrongdoing. But in this case, I think that can be countered by the fact that a case against Gonzales on perjury is easy to find. More importantly, Congress will likely lose this battle if they make a fight between oversight and privilege. And for everyone’s sake, we don’t need that kind of confirmation of the unitary executive theory offered from the Supreme Court.
So bring on the special prosecutor. For the sake of the balance of government.
