The House Judiciary Subcommittee on Commercial and Administrative Law voted to subpoena White House aide Karl Rove and other executive officials, requiring them to testify publicly and under oath about their roles in the firings of eight federal prosecutors.

The U.S. House and Senate continue to tangle over whether Congress can have access to documents and testimony related to the firings of eight federal prosecutors.

The White House has consistently said it will not comply with subpoenas issued by Congress, claiming executive privilege.

If this impasse continues, Congress may hold those it has subpoenaed in contempt of Congress.

Congress can hold a person in contempt if that person obstructs proceedings or an inquiry by a congressional committee.

The power to hold someone in contempt of Congress is not in the Constitution. Neither is executive privilege. Both are implied powers.

The Supreme Court said as early as 1821 that without the power to hold people in contempt of Congress, the legislative branch would be "exposed to every indignity and interruption that rudeness, caprice, or even conspiracy, may mediate against it."

The procedure can start in either the House or the Senate. It only takes one chamber to refer a person to be prosecuted for contempt.

A contempt citation can start with a subcommittee, a full committee or in the full House or Senate. The Justice official would then call a grand jury to decide whether to indict and prosecute those named in the subpoena.

Once approved, the House speaker or the Senate president pro tem then turns the matter over to the U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia.

This may put the Bush administration in an unusual position, because it employs the U.S. attorney who would decide whether to bring the contempt of Congress case to the grand jury. And, this case involves alleged political corruption in the firings of U.S. prosecutors by the Justice Department itself.

Something similar has happened before. For example, the House voted 259-105 in 1982 for a contempt citation against EPA Administrator Anne Gorsuch but the Reagan-era Justice Department refused to prosecute the case. (The Reagan administration eventually agreed to turn over the documents.)

A successful prosecution results in the subject being convicted of contempt of Congress. Contempt of Congress is a federal misdemeanor, punishable by a maximum $100,000 fine and a maximum one-year sentence in federal prison. The sitting president has the authority as chief executive to commute or pardon anyone of any federal crime.

Since 1975, 10 Cabinet level or senior executive officials have been cited for contempt for failure to produce subpoenaed documents.

The balance-of-power question has never been resolved completely; it has never worked its way to the Supreme Court. If that were to happen, and Congress lost, then it would have a hard time investigating future presidents, Republican and Democrat. If the White House loses, presidents can expect numerous requests from Congress, whether controlled by the Democrats or Republicans.