NATIONAL BRIEFING / WASHINGTON, D.C.

The House Judiciary Committee chairman subpoenaed former White House advisor Karl Rove to testify about the Bush administration’s firing of nine U.S. attorneys and its prosecution of former Alabama Gov. Don Siegelman, a Democrat.

Rep. John Conyers Jr. (D-Mich.) said the legal battle to get Rove and other former Bush aides to testify may succeed with a new president in the White House.

Former President George W. Bush supported Rove and two other senior aides who asserted they did not have to testify before Congress about their actions in the executive branch. The legal dispute is before a federal appeals court.

Rove’s lawyer, Robert Luskin, said his client was only following Bush’s orders and never asserted a personal claim that he could disobey a congressional subpoena. The subpoena commands Rove to appear for a deposition Feb. 2.