Defying Congressional subpoenas

From Bob Novak's column:

... Gonzales said: “I think that the American people lose if I spend all my time worrying about congressional requests for information, if I spend all my time responding to subpoenas.”

So, does this mean that Alberto Gonzales is going to defy Congressional subpoenas? And, if so, on what grounds? Does executive privilege work, now that the White House has said it didn't have a role in selecting those who would be fired? Does executive privilege work in any case? I don't know the answer to these questions, but I'm wondering if we're going to have a Constitutional crisis over this.

John Dean has a few observations on this:

A witness's failure to honor a subpoena can result in a contempt citation by the Congress, and of course, contempt can bring jail time. The mere threat of contempt has been used, on countless occasions, to force a wide array of high-level Executive Branch officials to produce the requested information. No president has yet instructed an officer to defy Congress and go to jail. However, there have been a number of close calls.

Secretary of Commerce Rogers Morton turned over information regarding an Arab boycott of Israel in 1975, rather than be held in contempt. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger avoided contempt when President Ford had a member of his National Security Council provide information Congress wanted. Secretary of Interior James Watt, and Attorney General William Smith, yielded to Congress rather than face contempt. President Reagan's EPA head, Anne Gorsuch Burford, was dangerously close when the House voted, 259-to-105, to hold her in contempt, but Reagan yielded.

Attorney General Dick Thornburgh turned over documents in 1991, rather than risk contempt. White House associate counsel William Kennedy turned over notes regarding President Clinton and the Whitewater Development Corporation, rather than be held in contempt.

The fact that no president has instructed an officer to defy Congress before is not likely to impede Bush from doing so. After all, he's gone many places where no man has gone before. Defy Congress and refuse to go to jail would be the probable order. Who's to enforce the Congressional contempt citation? After all, the prez thinks he's Commander-in-chief.