As someone who's not a lawyer nor that well versed in law, I was hoping to clarify a few things here;

My overarching question is this - why is Sara Taylor only being vaguely threatened with contempt of congress, rather than immediately charged with it upon refusing to answer these questions? Here's my understanding -

She is a private citizen, no longer part of the executive branch

The Fielding letter carries no legal weight, and is just a private instruction to Taylor

She has not claimed the fifth or avoided answering for reasons of self-incrimination.

So what, exactly, are the grounds for contempt of congress? How has this line not been explicitly crossed? Am I wrong about any of the above? Argh.

2 U.S.C. § 192 states:

Every person who having been summoned as a witness by the authority of either House of Congress to give testimony or to produce papers upon any matter under inquiry before either House, or any joint committee established by a joint or concurrent resolution of the two Houses of Congress, or any committee of either House of Congress, willfully makes default, or who, having appeared, refuses to answer any question pertinent to the question under inquiry, shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, punishable by a fine of not more than $1,000 nor less than $100 and imprisonment in a common jail for not less than one month nor more than twelve months.

because they are pussies. short answer. They are so careful of avoiding a war with the bush administration that they don't do more than posture and threaten. Despite the fact that the dems hold congress, GOP still has a strong enough position to make things impossible to accomplish that need to get done and if the dems start chucking legal challenges at the GOP president, you can bet that GOP in congress will start screwing with the ability of congress to get things done in a heartbeat. I have no doubt that the majority of GOP see Bush's administration for what it is, the inherent criminiality of many of its actions and the preposterous assertions of being above congress oversight. They just don't care. They've always put party above country because it's the party that gets them reelected, not the nation at large.

The short answer to why she hasn't been charged with anything yet is that no one is ever immediately charged with anything. Charging a federal crime takes time, and there are a couple special steps to bring this charge. Contempt of Congress is a misdemeanor defined in 2 U.S.C. sec. 192, which has already been posted. Section 194 provides that if a statement of the fact that someone failed to appear or failed to answer questions is filed with the Speaker of the House or the President of the Senate, that official is then required to certify the statement to the relevant U.S. Attorney (in this case, Jeffrey Taylor, the U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia), who is then required to bring the matter before a grand jury for investigation.

Which brings us to the real problem: Congress is dependent on the very agency they're trying to investigate for enforcing its subpoenas and contempt charges. The one that is now clearly stuffed with "loyal Bushies" who put their "oath" to George W. Bush and the GOP ahead of their duties to the American people.

...how does the Executive Branch under Bush differ from a dictatorship?

Dictatorship: form of absolute rule by a leadership unrestricted by laws, constitutions, or other social and political factors within the state.

Unfortunately, it's more a difference in style than substance, LOL.

Wrong: Congress has the ability and authority to prosecute "contempt of congress" charges. In fact, Congress has a "jail" in the Capital complex. Congress can find a witness in comtempt, take them into custody, and it then is up to the contemnor to raise the issue on a habeus corpus claim to the Federal Court.

Actually, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Columbia is hardly stuffed with loyal Bushies (indeed, almost all of them are career hires, not political appointees, and many of them predate this adminstration has, and you might be surprised at how many career government attorneys, even prosecutors, are Democrats). The fired U.S. Attorneys were also Bush appointees, remember, but at least some of them resisted having their job politicized, as in the matter of the voter fraud investigations. Labelling the entire Department of Justice as disloyal to their constitutional oath is simply inaccurate.

It is true that Congress could use the "inherent contempt" procedure, in which case the trial occurs on the chamber floor, but hasn't done so since 1934 (Would you really prefer a trial on the Senate floor, presided over by the VP?). The statutory method, established in 1857, is preferred. Also, the Supreme Court held that the punishment under the inherent contempt procedure could not extend past the session of Congress concerned.

>>> The short answer to why she hasn't been charged with anything yet is that no one is ever immediately charged with anything.

Yes. Leaping to one's feet and charging her with contempt in the midst of the hearing would have been pure grandstanding and would not have helped the committee's case at all.

Agreed.

The committee might want to research "waiver of privilege". One can't simultaneously invoke a privilege and then do the sort of fan dance that Taylor performed. When a witness answers questions. it's not for the him/her to decide what's protected and what's not. That would remain the province of a judge.

Comments? Wisdom?

spruce:

...how does the Executive Branch under Bush differ from a dictatorship?

Dictatorship: form of absolute rule by a leadership unrestricted by laws, constitutions, or other social and political factors within the state.

It does not.

Next question?

Seems to me the GoP in congress is already preventing anything from getting done. They ought to throw the book at her. I think they have trouble doing that to a well spoken cute 30 something blond thing.

I doubt it. We've already seen that those attorneys who had a "Monica problem" (ie, they were democrats or didn't go to a third-tier school run by an anti-science moron) were being forced out of even the career positions.