Constitutional Law
DOJ Reopens Domestic Wiretap Investigation
Posted Nov 13, 2007, 02:56 pm CST
By Martha Neil
Updated: In a move seen as an indicator of where the Department of Justice may now be headed under the direction of a new U.S. Attorney General, the department has reopened a dormant investigation of whether the National Security Agency violated the law by engaging in a warrantless domestic wiretapping program authorized by President George Bush.
Word of the renewed investigation by the department's Office of Professional Responsibility comes only a few days after Michael Mukasey, the new AG, was sworn in Friday, notes the Associated Press. (Mukasey will again be sworn in tomorrow, at a public ceremony presided over by U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts.)
As the Wall Street Journal (sub. req.) puts it, "Michael Mukasey appears to be quickly making a break with the Gonzales era at the Justice Department."
The domestic wiretapping investigation was launched in early 2006, but went nowhere after the NSA refused to cooperate and Mukasey's predecessor, former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, refused to grant security clearances to OPR investigators, the AP reports. The Bush administration "has vehemently defended the eavesdropping, saying the NSA's activities were narrowly targeted to intercept international calls and e-mails of Americans and others inside the U.S. with suspected ties to the al-Qaida terror network," the AP article continues.
As discussed in an earlier ABAJournal.com post, Congress is pursuing legislation that apparently would grant immunity to telecommunications companies that cooperate with the renewed investigation.
The telecoms reportedly cooperated with the warrantless wiretaps after being assured that Gonzales had OK'd them, but now face potential liability for doing so that would also be mooted by the immunity grant, according to the Christian Science Monitor.
(Updated at 7:20 p.m., central time.)