Never has so much been made by so few over so little.

Congressional Democrats, perhaps frustrated by their inability to force their will on the executive branch over Iraq, have been sniffing all over the woods for a "scandal" that will stick.

Now they think they have the president treed, and have pushed the federal government to the brink of crisis over the firing of eight U.S. attorneys - which the Democrats and everyone else acknowledge is perfectly legal for the nation's chief executive to do for any reason.

Certainly if there's evidence no one has yet seen that indicates the White House purged the federal prosecutors for being too partisan in their prosecutions, that would be an interesting development. But it's not illegal or scandalous. And it might beg the question: Were they too partisan?

Regardless, it's a political dispute, not the constitutional crisis that Democrats seem intent on making it.

Not in any way helping itself or future administrations, the Bush administration turned March on its head - by coming in like a lamb and trying to go out like a lion. Last week, it was all apologies; this week, finally, the president is pushing back and defending the executive branch against incursions by an increasingly hostile Congress.

For the president to acquiesce in serving his closest advisers up to sworn testimony before Congress would be a historic blunder and a horrible precedent for future presidents who will need the freedom to carry out the executive branch's duties without undue interference of either of the other two branches of government.

The president finally got that through his head this week.

"We will not go along with a partisan fishing expedition aimed at honorable public servants," a belatedly firm president said. "I will oppose any attempts to subpoena White House officials."

Democrats, likewise, have had trouble choosing their battles wisely. If they are going to go to the mat - and create a constitutional confrontation between the two branches of government that would have to be arbitrated by the third - then it should be over a real scandal involving true crime or significant malfeasance. That just isn't present in this case, and for Democrats to pursue this with such vigor is to trivialize the delicate balance of powers, and over virtually nothing.

The Bush administration is likely to revert to recent form and serve Attorney General Alberto Gonzales up as a sacrificial lamb to buy Congress off. Washington's breed of vultures can smell a sacrificial lamb from miles away.

That, in itself, might not be a tragedy - not even fellow Republicans have found Gonzales worth expending political capital for. And when he seemed totally out to lunch on the firings, he may have earned sacrificial lamb status on his own.

But, again, what a horrible precedent if his resignation were in any way related to the current imbroglio - as it surely would be. It would, in effect, put Congress in co-command of the U.S. Justice Department.

Neither the Constitution, nor practicality, can afford that.