How did the White House orchestrate the firings of nine U.S. Attorneys? Don’t ask Harriet Miers– at least until the next Congress, says a federal appeals court. The federal court this summer said that Miers, the former White House counsel who by all accounts was central in the unprecedented attorney dismissals, could not use a presidential claim of executive privilege to make her immune to sworn, Congressional testimony.

But Miers appealed and, as the Washington Post’s Carrie Johnson reports, the case won’t sort itself out until the next administration. Congressional subpoenas of Miers— and also White House Chief of Staff Josh Bolten who’s been asked for documents– will expire when the 110th Congress officially ends in December But with a Justice Dept. special prosecutor investigating the attorney firings, Miers might not be off the hook.-MB