Conyers Attends Court of Appeals Hearing on White House Request to Delay Miers Testimony

Today, a panel of the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit heard oral argument on the Administration’s request for a stay of a recent decision by United States District Judge John Bates in Committee on the Judiciary v. Miers, et al. With House Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers, Jr. in attendance, House General Counsel Irv Nathan argued on behalf of the committee, in a proceeding that was originally scheduled to last for thirty minutes, but continued for more than an hour before Circuit Judges Ginsburg, Randolph, and Tatel. The issue has now been taken under submission by the court, which could issue its decision as early as next week.

"It is very important to get to the bottom of the US Attorney firings, and the extraordinary White House efforts to keep Harriet Miers from testifying only underscore the committee’s need to hear from her," said Conyers.

In opposing the stay, Nathan explained that:

• it would substantially impair the committee’s investigation of the US Attorney firings, causing substantial harm to the committee, an element of the legal showing needed for a stay;
• the Administration could not show that it had a reasonable likelihood of winning their appeal and could not cite a single applicable case to support their claim that presidential aides are immune from subpoena, a showing that must be made to obtain a stay order; and
• the appeal was premature and should be dismissed because issues remain to be litigated in the lower court and the appeal was filed too early under court rules
.

The lower court ruling by Judge Bates, issued on July 31, 2008, decided that Harriet Miers was not immune from congressional subpoena and was obligated to appear before the Judiciary Committee pursuant to the subpoena issued by Committee Chairman Conyers last year. Judge Bates also ruled that the White House was obligated to produce non-privileged documents to the Judiciary Committee and to provide a description of any documents withheld on grounds of privilege. Ms. Miers and White House Chief of Staff Josh Bolten have asked the Court of Appeals to stay that ruling during the pendency of an appellate challenge to Judge Bates’ ruling.

The Department of Justice represented Ms. Miers and White House Chief of Staff Josh Bolten, and department official Carl Nichols argued on their behalf.