From Max’s:

"With respect, it is with much regret that we are forced down this unfortunate path which we sought to avoid by finding grounds for mutual accommodation," White House counsel Fred Fielding said in a letter to the chairmen of the Senate and House Judiciary Committees. "We had hoped this matter could conclude with your committees receiving information in lieu of having to invoke executive privilege. Instead, we are at this conclusion."

Translation: Fuck off! I’m The Decider. Read more…

Breaking on CNN:

Two congressional panels are issuing subpoenas to two former White House staffers to testify about their roles in the firings of eight federal prosecutors, officials familiar with the investigation said today.

Newsreader is saying the names Miers and Taylor. More after this commercial break... Read more…

USA John McKay was up for a Federal judgeship until he didn't play ball with the state Republican Partei apparatus.

Then he was fired. WaPo:

John McKay of Washington state, who had decided two years earlier not to bring voter fraud charges that could have undermined a Democratic victory in a closely fought gubernatorial race, said White House counsel Harriet Miers and her deputy, William Kelley, "asked me why Republicans in the state of Washington would be angry with me."

'Cause he sent them to bed without any red meat?

[McKay] added that he took umbrage at the idea that he had other responsibilities beyond focusing "on the evidence and not allow[ing] politics into the work that we do in criminal prosecutions." Those involved in the scandal over the firings who acted unprofessionally "or even illegally" must be held accountable for what they did, he said.

("Illegal" because--at least until Bush does away with it like he did away with habeas corpus--obstruction of justice is still against the law.)

McKay's disclosure of an explicit White House question about the damage his decision caused to his standing among party loyalists added new detail to his previous statement that Miers accused him of having "mishandled" the voter fraud inquiry.

The use of the word "mishandled" left open the possibility that White House officials -- who in September were weighing whether to recommend McKay for a federal judgeship [Now, forget about it] -- merely disputed McKay's professional judgment. But his statement yesterday lent new credence to suspicions that partisan political concerns weighed heavily in his firing.

The second most frightening thing about this scandal? That of the 93 USAs, only 8 turned out to be principled enough to get fired for doing what used to be the right thing.

And the most frightening thing: Read more…