Senate Panel Subpoenas Anti-Terror Documents From Justice Department

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Senate Panel Subpoenas Anti-Terror Documents From Justice Department
By Seth Stern, CQ Staff


The chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee issued a subpoena Tuesday to the attorney general for Justice Department documents related to the Bush administration’s anti-terrorism policies.

Chairman Patrick J. Leahy , D-Vt., has been seeking various memos from the department’s Office of Legal Counsel (OLC), which provides binding legal opinions within the executive branch.

“This administration’s stonewalling leaves this committee without basic facts that are essential to carrying out its oversight responsibilities,” Leahy wrote in a letter to Michael B. Mukasey .

The committee had voted, 10-9, along party lines to authorize the subpoena on Sept. 25. Republicans labeled it an unwarranted, overbroad dragnet.

So far, the committee has received only some redacted memorandums from the office related to CIA interrogation practices.

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