[JURIST] US Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-VT) said Sunday that he is prepared to initiate a Senate vote to hold officials in the White House, the Vice President's office, and the Department of Justice in contempt of Congress if they refuse to cooperate with congressional subpoenas [JURIST report] issued in the investigation of the US Attorney firings controversy [JURIST news archive]. In an appearance on NBC's "Meet the Press," Leahy criticized [transcript] the White House's broad assertion of executive privilege [JURIST report] saying:

They have taken the attitude at the, at the White House that somehow they're above the law. They — if they make a decision that there's something they want to do, nobody should question them on it. The vice president's even been quoted as saying, "The courts can't question it. The Congress can't question it." That's a Nixonian attitude, and it's wrong.

In America, no one is above the law. The president and the vice president are not above the law any more than you and I are. And it is unfortunate they've taken this attitude because what it does it taints everything else. Look at the Department of Justice, look what has happened here. You have as an attorney general somebody—nobody has confidence in him. Republicans don't; Democrats don't. Most of the key members of the Department of Justice are resigning. In fact, just about a week ago one resigned rather than come and have to testify under oath. And I begin to wonder is it going to be a case of last person out of the building turn the lights off?