Tomorrow, Monday morning July 13, 2009, Judge Sonia Sotomayor begins the hearing portion of her confirmation process. So far, there has been the expected (sadly) partisan yammering on her nomination. Then, on Friday, there suddenly emerged something that might seem to take hold as the focus of the obligatory partisan sniping.

There’s some debate about whether a potential torture investigation would get beyond the low level torturers. First of all, those aren’t really low-level CIA people–they’re James Mitchell and friends. More importantly, if you go after Mitchell, you almost certainly will get to the lawyers who approved what he did.

We have long known that John Ashcroft was not properly read into the illegal domestic surveillance program Senator Whitehouse suggested as much when Attorney General Gonzales testified in July 2007. And both Gonzales and Robert Mueller revealed that John Ashcroft–from his ICU bed–complained that his advisors had not been able to get read into the program and as a result he was ill-informed about the program.

But the IG Report raises new

Ambinder describes the division of labor between Greg Craig and Eric Holder.

Against the backdrop of a Holder/Rahm drama, Newsweek reveals key details about the internal conflict over torture.

It’s troublesome that John Brennan appears to have been at the center of the warrantless wiretap program, not just because it means a top Obama aide was complicit with the program. But it’s also troublesome because it makes the “Main Core” allegation more likely.

John Brennan oversaw the threat assessments that were key to the illegal wiretap program. Is that why Obama and his Attorney General have flip-flopped on their belief that it was illegal?

Not only was Ceci Connolly slotted to “host” the Pay2Play dinner, but she was also asked for contact info for invitees.

The IG Report says that Yoo’s OLC opinion authorizing the warrantless wiretap program doesn’t account for the 15-day exemption period in FISA that reflects Congressional intent to have FISA apply even in times of war. What the IG Report doesn’t say–but is clear from the timeline–is that the Bush Administration used that 15-day period!

The CIA argues that they’re not claiming the torture documents are classified because they’re trying to hide a crime, but argue at the same time that the descriptions of the techniques as practiced have to remain classified because they’re not the same as the abstract descriptions.