WASHINGTON – The House Judiciary Committee approved a contempt of Congress citation Wednesday against White House Chief of Staff Josh Bolten and one-time Counsel Harriet Miers, setting up a constitutional confrontation over the firings of federal prosecutors.

The Justice Department said it would block the citation from prosecution because information Congress is demanding is protected by executive privilege. Democratic Speaker Nancy Pelosi said the House effort was important nonetheless.

The contempt proceedings, she said, “are part of a broader effort by House Democrats to restore our nation’s fundamental system of checks and balances.”

The 22-17 party-line vote – which would sanction the pair for failure to comply with subpoenas on the firings – advanced the citation to the full House. A vote there is possible this fall.

“I am hopeful that today’s vote will help the administration see the light and release the information to which the Judiciary Committee is entitled,” said Pelosi, D-Calif.

Not likely. The White House has consistently dismissed the effort as legally moot because Bush has declared the information sought by the committee off-limits under executive privilege.

Wednesday’s action followed nearly seven months of a Democratic-driven investigation into whether the U.S. attorney firings were directed by the White House to influence corruption cases in favor of Republican candidates. The administration has denied that, but also has invoked executive privilege to shield internal White House deliberations on the matter.

White House Counsel Fred Fielding has said Miers, Bolten and other top presidential aides are immune from congressional subpoenas. And the Justice Department let the committee know that any House-passed contempt citation that might be forwarded to the U.S attorney for grand jury consideration would not be allowed to proceed.

“This is something that the drafters of this particular referral know has very little chance of going anywhere,” White House spokesman Tony Snow said just after Wednesday’s vote.

He likened the Democrat-driven investigation into the firings to “throwing mud against the wall and hoping something’s going to stick.”