[JURIST] A judge in the US District Court for the District of Columbia Thursday rejected arguments [opinion, PDF; CREW press release] that senior White House officials are protected from congressional subpoena by executive privilege, ruling that former White House legal counsel Harriet Miers [official profile] must testify before a House committee regarding the US Attorneys firing scandal [JURIST news archive]. Judge John Bates did find that Miers may claim executive privilege in response to certain questions, but he ordered Miers and White House Chief of Staff Joshua Bolten [official profile] to turn over all documents requested by the subpoena and a list of any documents withheld under executive privilege. Bates wrote:

[E]xecutive privilege is not absolute even when Congress -- rather than a grand jury -- is the party requesting the information. And a claim of absolute immunity from compulsory process cannot be erected by the Executive as a surrogate for the claim of absolute executive privilege already firmly rejected by the courts. Presidential autonomy, such as it is, cannot mean that the Executive’s actions are totally insulated from scrutiny by Congress. That would eviscerate Congress’s historical oversight function.