“They already know who it is.” That’s how one former U.S. official responded the Justice Department’s years-long investigation of a suspected leaker of classified intelligence. So, why are prosecutors trying to force a well-known journalist to identify this suspect before a federal grand jury? And what does it mean for the future of a free [...]

A judicial ruling on drug tests for athletes blossoms into a huge Fourth Amendment case. Read the full story in National Journal.

Just when you thought it was safe to come back from vacation… At the same moment we learned Alberto Gonzales would step down as attorney general, that favorite Washington parlor game, “Replacement Pick,” kicked into high gear. Initial speculation focused on Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff, a former prosecutor, federal judge, and senior Justice Department [...]

No big surprise here, but an important admission from Mike McConnell, the Director of National Intelligence. In a letter to Arlen Specter (Penn.), the top Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee, McConnell acknowledges that the president authorized the National Security Agency to undertake “various intelligence activities,” after the 9/11, aimed at preventing another terrorist attack. [...]

That’s what Senators want to know. Gonzales is testifying right now before the Judiciary Committee–not exactly his favorite audience–about a host of issues. But earlier, Senators grilled him over the famous nighttime visit Gonzales and then White House Chief of Staff Andy Card paid to John Ashcroft, back in March 2004, when the attorney general [...]