By Keith Perine, CQ Staff

The federal judge in a lawsuit pitting the House Judiciary Committee against the Bush administration signaled Wednesday that he might give the two sides more time to fashion a compromise on their own.

U.S. District Judge John D. Bates has ordered the two sides to file status reports by Aug. 22 “on the current state of the negotiations between the parties” on committee access to testimony and documents about the firings of nine U.S. attorneys in 2006.

Bates’ action signals that he wants to gauge the progress of the talks before deciding whether to stay another order that would force former White House counsel Harriet Miers to appear before the committee, and White House chief of staff Joshua B. Bolten to furnish at least some records.

Bates ruled last month that Miers and Bolten were not immune from committee subpoenas.

Bolten and Miers had refused to comply with the subpoenas after President Bush made a blanket claim of executive privilege. The committee went to court after Attorney General Michael B. Mukasey refused to follow federal law and refer a contempt of Congress citation to a grand jury.

Bates ordered Bolten to give the committee non-privileged White House records, and more details about privileged documents. He ordered Miers to comply with her subpoena to appear before the committee and observe Bush’s privilege claim on a question-by-question basis.

The defendants have asked Bates to stay his order pending an appeal. Meanwhile, the committee has begun fresh talks with the White House about a potential compromise.

The Justice Department has argued that a stay would help foster a compromise. The committee has argued that if Bates stays his order, the White House would have “little or no incentive to compromise.”