Washington, D.C. - The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia has temporarily stayed a ruling requiring top White House aides to comply with a subpoena issued by Congress about allegedly politically-motivated dismissals of federal attorneys.

The Justice Department has been trying to delay a court decision ordering presidential chief of staff Josh Bolten to provide documents, and former White House counsel Harriet Miers to testify before lawmakers about the firings of nine prosecutors in 2006. Both officials refused to comply with subpoenas, citing executive privilege. The House Judiciary panel filed a lawsuit in March in the U.S. District Court in Washington following a vote by the full chamber to cite Bolten and Miers for contempt. The lawsuit asked the court to enforce the subpoenas, the first suit of its kind from a chamber of Congress against the executive branch.

U.S. District Judge John Bates ruled in July that Bolten and Miers were not immune from congressional oversight. He rejected a motion from the Justice Department a month later to stay the ruling and postpone enforcing the subpoenas until after an appeal is heard.

House Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers (D-MI), who was in negotiations with White House Counsel Fred Fielding about the subpoenas, praised Bates' ruling, saying it ""recognized... the public interest in this matter." He earlier set the deadline for Bolten's submission of subpoenaed documents for Sept. 4. Conyers also announced that the committee hearing in which Miers' testimony will be expected has been rescheduled to Sept. 11.