Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, left, accompanied by FBI Director Robert Mueller, gestures during a news conference at the Justice Department in Washington, Jan 25, 2007. On Jan. 31, Gonzales said he will turn over secret documents detailing the government's domestic spying program to lawmakers, ending a two-week standoff with the Senate Judiciary Committee over surveillance targeting terror suspects.
U.S. District Judge Anna Diggs Taylor, shown in Detroit, Aug. 3, 2006, ruled on Aug. 17 that the government's warrantless wiretapping program is unconstitutional and ordered an immediate halt to it. Taylor became the first judge to strike down the National Security Agency's program, which she says violates the rights to free speech and privacy as well as the separation of powers enshrined in the Constitution.
U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, left, arrives to testify at a closed briefing of the Senate Intelligence Committee Thursday, Feb. 9, 2006, in Washington. Reversing course, the White House has agreed to brief congressional intelligence committees on highly classified details of President Bush's controversial monitoring program as part of a new found openness with lawmakers.
Attorney General Alberto Gonzales insisted that President George W. Bush is fully empowered to eavesdrop on Americans without warrants as part of the war on terror. He exhorted Congress not to end or tinker with the program during a hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Monday, Feb. 6, 2006.
Senator Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., refers to a House Select Intelligence Committee report while questioning Attorney General Alberto Gonzales on Capitol Hill Monday, Feb. 6, 2006. Gonzlaes appeared before the Senate Judiciary Committee to defend President George W. Bush's domestic electronic surveillance program before the Senate Judiciary Committee.
Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., questions Attorney General Alberto Gonzales on Capitol Hill, Monday, Feb. 6, 2006, during a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on President George W. Bush's domestic electronic surveillance program. Gonzales' strong defense was challenged by Republican Sen. Arlen Specter, committee chairman, and committee Democrats during sometimes contentious questioning.
Attorney General Alberto Gonzales shakes hands with Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., left, prior to defending President George W. Bush's domestic electronic surveillance program on Capitol Hill before the Senate Judiciary Committee, Monday, Feb. 6, 2006. Sen. Joseph Biden, D-Del., observes in the background.
Attorney General Alberto Gonzales takes his seat on Capitol Hill, Monday, Feb. 6, 2006, as he prepares to defend President George W. Bush's domestic electronic surveillance program before the Senate Judiciary Committee's hearing on "Wartime Executive Power and the NSA's Surveillance Authority."
President George W. Bush gestures during a visit to the National Security Agency on Wednesday, Jan. 25, 2006, in Fort Meade, Md. Mr. Bush traveled to the heavily secured site of the super-secret spy agency in suburban Maryland to give a speech behind closed doors and meet with employees in advance of Senate hearings on the much-criticized domestic surveillance program.
Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, D-N.Y., leaves the stage after addressing mayors attending the 74th Winter meeting of the United States Conference of Mayors on Wednesday in Washington, D.C., on Jan. 25, 2006. Clinton called the president's explanations for eavesdropping on domestic conversations without warrants "strange" and "far-fetched."
Members of the audience, some wearing black hoods, stand up and turn their backs on Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, rear center, as he speaks at Georgetown University Law School on Tuesday, Jan. 24, 2006. In answering the Bush administration's critics, Gonzales said that warrantless surveillance is critical to prevent another terrorist attack within the United States.
Gary Daniels, litigation coordinator for the American Civil Liberties Union, answers questions at a news conference on Tuesday, Jan. 24, 2006, in Cleveland. The ACLU of Ohio requested information Tuesday from the government about whether two anti-war groups and an attorney for a man suspected of terrorism connections were subjects of domestic spying. Officials of the ACLU said two meetings may have been infiltrated.
Gen. Michael V. Hayden, the Principal Deputy Director of National Intelligence, gestures during an address at the National Press Club in Washington, Monday, Jan. 23, 2006. In the speech, he talked about the National Security Agency's monitoring of suspected terrorists.
Noel Saleh of the ACLU, left; Michael Steinberg, legal director of the ACLU of Michigan; and Nazih Hassan of the Council on Islamic-American Relations address the media at a news conference on Jan. 17, 2006, in Detroit. The ACLU and others have filed a first-of-its-kind lawsuit against the National Security Agency, seeking to stop a secret electronic surveillance program.
U.S. Senators John McCain (R-AZ), left, and Joseph Lieberman (D-Conn.) listen as reporters ask questions about President George W. Bush secretly authorizing the National Security Agency to eavesdrop on Americans and others inside the U.S. to search for evidence of terrorist activity without the court-approved warrants ordinarily required for domestic spying Dec. 16, 2005, outside the West Wing of the White House.