Last week U.S. District Judge John Bates ruled that White House Chief of Staff Josh Bolten and former White House counsel Harriet Miers must testify before Congress regarding their role in the 2006 U.S. Attorney purge. Today, however, Miers and Bolten requested that Bates stay his decision to provide time for them to appeal the ruling. In a court filing, they wrote:
Whatever the proper resolution of the extraordinarily important questions presented, the public interest clearly favors further consideration of issues before defendants are required to take actions that may forever alter the constitutional balance of separation of powers.
While the subpoenas expire in January, the case could make its way to the U.S. Supreme Court, where Miers was once a nominee.