Legal Beat

Though that impeachment inquiry ended when Kent resigned, Schiff's task force is still investigating another District Court judge, G. Thomas Porteous of Louisiana, who is alleged to have lied on bankruptcy financial disclosure forms.

Schiff, in a telephone interview Wednesday, said the Congressional investigation into the firing of the U.S. attorneys is quite different than the sort of criminal cases he handled as a federal prosecutor -- including a high-profile case against Richard Miller, an FBI agent accused of spying for the Soviet Union.

But while he didn't consciously set out to become the House Judiciary Committee's chief prosecutor, Schiff said he was grateful that Chairman John Conyers Jr., D-Mich., has turned to him for both assignments.

"Congress is a big place and you look for places where you can add insights and value and I thought this was an area where I could do both," Schiff said.

Schiff said he spent "a lot of time" with House Judiciary staff preparing for the three days of questioning, including taking turns playing the parts of Rove and Miers during rehearsal sessions.

The transcripts of the closed-door interviews indicate Schiff held his ground during a series of testy exchanges with Rove's lawyer, Robert Luskin, who objected to the wording of questions -- or his tendency to repeat ones that Rove didn't answer to his satisfaction.

Schiff, who graduated from Harvard Law School in 1985, served in the U.S. Attorney's Office in Los Angeles for six years before running for the California legislature. He was first elected to Congress in 2000.

Schiff might also have a chance to get back into an actually courtroom this recess, though not at the prosecutor's table. Schiff was at a Los Angeles courthouse Wednesday -- waiting his turn for jury duty.