WASHINGTON — Ratcheting up the stakes in a legal battle with Congress, President Bush on Wednesday ordered White House adviser Karl Rove and a senior political aide to refuse on grounds of executive privilege to testify before the Senate on the firings of nine U.S. attorneys.

In a letter to Senate Judiciary Committee leaders, White House counsel Fred Fielding declared that Rove, ``as an immediate presidential advisor, is immune from compelled congressional testimony'' about matters involving his service to the president.

While deputy White House political affairs director Scott Jennings is expected to appear before the committee Thursday, Fielding said that he, too, has been directed ``not to produce any documents or to provide any testimony'' covered by the privilege claim. » read more

WASHINGTON — Threats of criminal contempt rained down on the White House from Congress this week. Plus a subpoena for Karl Rove. And calls for a special prosecutor.

With each passing day, the dispute over whether President Bush can claim executive privilege to shield his aides from a congressional investigation into last year's firing of nine U.S. attorneys creeps closer to court. The two elected branches of government appear determined to push this dispute into a full-scale confrontation over the limits of their constitutional powers, and it may be that only the unelected branch can declare a winner.

This week even several Republicans who don’t consider the firings improper — including Senate Minority Whip Trent Lott of Mississippi and Rep. James Sensenbrenner of Wisconsin, a former chairman of the House Judiciary Committee — said the executive privilege question is a matter the courts should decide. » read more