THIS Is A Great Idea

So, Bush thinks he can prevent the DOJ from prosecuting a Congressional contempt citation? So this is what Congress should do:

Marty Lederman, who predicted a couple of weeks ago that this would happen, has more details on pursuing these options here. Mark Kleiman, by contrast, thinks Congress should just start defunding the "non-essential" parts of the White House: the press office, the political office, and the White House Counsel's office. Says Mark: "Clinton won his [1995 budget showdown with Newt Gingrich] because Gingrich tried to shut down the government. Punishing and crippling Bush doesn't require shutting down any activity the public cares about."

There are clearly enuciated powers in the Constitution for Congress. So if the Preznit wants to play rough, play rough. And if Republicans threaten to filibuster? Use the nuclear option that they developed. It's time to save our government.

More from Kleinman:

I haven't used the term before, but this is really a Constitutional crisis. If the Democrats handle it correctly — which means, above all, stressing the insult to the rule of law and the threat to the Constitutional order — they'll have the public on their side, along with the bulk of elite opinion. (Who knows? Maybe even the editorial page of the Washington Post.)

And I suspect that a combination of institutional self-respect and electoral self-preservation will lead a substantial number of Republicans to desert the President. They've been looking for an excuse, and he just handed it to them.

Perhaps. Perhaps.