Miers’s empty seat.

Former White House counsel Harriet Miers’s chair sits empty today on Capitol Hill during a House Judiciary Committee hearing on the U.S. attorney purge. As the AP notes, Miers “obeyed President Bush” and skipped the hearing.

Today, Rep. Linda Sanchez (D-CA) “ruled out of order Bush’s executive privilege claim that his former advisers are immune from being summoned before Congress,” clearing the way for contempt proceedings. The charge was upheld by the panel 7-5 vote.

UPDATE: Video of Sanchez and Conyers at the hearing.