New Privilege Claim by Bush Escalates Clash Over Firings

Eggleston did not respond to a telephone message yesterday. He has indicated to the Senate Judiciary panel that Taylor will appear at a hearing scheduled on Wednesday but will refuse to answer questions, according to committee aides.

Mark J. Rozell, a George Mason University political scientist and author of "Executive Privilege," said the Bush administration's claim in this case "goes way beyond the proper scope of executive privilege" because it is not limited to specific discussions and it amounts to "a blanket prohibition on former aides discussing anything at all."

Rozell and other legal experts also noted that the White House has little real power to prohibit Miers or Taylor from testifying.

"The leverage primarily is the sense of loyalty that former aides may feel to their president, period," Rozell said. "I don't believe there is any specific legal sanction that the White House can impose on former aides if they decide they want to talk."

Cass R. Sunstein, a University of Chicago law professor, said the administration's privilege claim is less persuasive if it includes communications with people outside the executive branch, as Fielding's letter indicates.

In addition to moving to block testimony by Miers and Taylor, Fielding refused a demand by Leahy and Conyers that he produce a more detailed justification of Bush's June 28 assertion of executive privilege over documents sought by lawmakers. Leahy and Conyers had demanded that the White House produce a log listing each document withheld, including its source, subject matter, date and recipients -- a request they said was routine.

Fielding wrote that he has already explained the legal basis for the previous privilege claims and said he would not turn over such a log "because it represents a substantial incursion into Presidential prerogatives and because, in view of the open-ended scope of the Committees' inquiry, it would impose a burden of very significant proportions."

The prosecutor case is just one of several fights with Congress over claims of executive privilege.

In a letter yesterday, for example, Conyers asked Bush to waive any privilege claims and let White House aides testify about the decision to allow I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby to avoid imprisonment in the CIA leak case. The House Judiciary panel is holding a hearing this week on Bush's decision to commute the 30-month prison sentence imposed on Libby, former chief of staff to Vice President Cheney.

White House spokesman Tony Snow told reporters that Conyers's letter seems to concede the administration's view that clemency powers and executive privilege are presidential prerogatives.