The Next Step

Contempt of Congress:

The issuance of a Contempt of Congress citation would provoke the sort of Constitutional showdown that it now appears will be required if this administration is to be held to account for its abuses of power. In such a showdown between the legislative and executive branches, the third branch of the federal government, the judiciary, would be asked to decide whether the White House has a right to assert, as White House counsel Fred Fielding did in a letter telling the committee chairs that their demands would not be met.

The 'fear of being commanded to Capitol Hill to testify or having their documents produced to Congress' would prevent presidential advisers from communicating 'openly and honestly' with the president,' wrote Fielding.

Senate Judiciary Committee chair Patrick Leahy suggests, there is another sort of fear in play: the fear of having improper and potentially illegal schemes exposed.

I can hardly wait. And should the Supreme Court decide with the president against all precedent and in clear violation of the letter and spirit of the law, then Congress must take action to revise their charter and, if necessary, hold them in contempt as well.