Absolute Immunity? Absolutely Not Says Court.

MayorBob.

Posted to Legal on Mon Aug 04, 2008 at 02:17:04 PM EST (promoted by port1080). RSS.

Back when the House and Senate Judiciary Committees sought to have a little dialogue with members of the White House staff over the case of some dismissed US attorneys, the word sent back to Capital Hill was a very firm "no." No, they would not be testifying before Congress because they had "absolute immunity" from congressional subpoenas. Because Congress really, really did want to talk to these people, the House Judiciary Committee went to court to force the issue. Now, almost a year after former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales resigned, partially over the cloud the matter of the fired US attorneys had caused, Congress got its answer from a federal judge. In a strongly worded 93 page decision (pdf doc), US District Judge John D. Bates ruled there was absolutely no such doctrine as "absolute immunity."

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