From the New York Times

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At one point in a meeting with Mr. Mueller, the notes show, Mr. Gonzales said that even he was “barred” from getting as much information as he wanted about the highly classified eavesdropping program, because of strict White House secrecy rules.

Mr. Mueller’s notes, which have been turned over to the House Judiciary Committee, were described by two officials who had reviewed them. The notes recount Mr. Mueller’s arrival at the hospital after Mr. Gonzales and Andrew H. Card Jr., then the White House chief of staff, had attempted to persuade Mr. Ashcroft to sign a presidential order reauthorizing the program. Mr. Comey, who was acting as attorney general during Mr. Ashcroft’s hospitalization, had declined to sign the reauthorization because he believed that part of the program was unlawful.

Bush ally Gonzales 'steps down'

US Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, embroiled in the row over the sacking of US attorneys, has resigned, reports quoting senior officials say.

Mr Gonzales, who has been in the job for two-and-a-half years, is expected to formally announce the decision in Washington later on Monday.

He is said to have submitted his resignation to the president on Friday.

Members of Congress have accused Mr Gonzalez of abuse of office over the sacking of federal prosecutors.

The row over last year's firings, which critics in Congress claimed were politically motivated, has been rumbling for several months.

Mr Gonzales, the nation's top law-enforcement officer, has faced numerous calls to resign over the affair.

Opponents say he fired the eight attorneys for political reasons and later lied about the reason for their dismissal.

He testified before committees in both houses of Congress, but senators later said he lied under oath.

Mr Gonzales has repeatedly said that he did nothing wrong.

A long time friend of President George W Bush, Mr Gonzales is the latest senior official to leave the White House as the president approaches the end of his second term in office.

Mr. Bush had appointed six of the seven judges in the conservative majority. His administration has transformed the nation’s federal appeals courts, advancing a conservative legal revolution that began nearly three decades ago under President Ronald Reagan.

On Oct. 6, Mr. Bush pointed with pride to his record at a conference sponsored by the Cincinnati chapter of the Federalist Society, the elite network for the conservative legal movement. He noted that he had appointed more than a third of the federal judiciary expected to be serving when he leaves office, a lifetime-tenured force that will influence society for decades and that represents one of his most enduring accomplishments. While a two-term president typically leaves his stamp on the appeals courts — Bill Clinton appointed 65 judges, Mr. Bush 61 — Mr. Bush’s judges were among the youngest ever nominated and are poised to have an unusually strong impact.

They have arrived at a time when the appeals courts, which decide tens of thousands of cases a year, are increasingly getting the last word. While the Supreme Court gets far more attention, in recent terms it has reviewed only about 75 cases a year — half what it considered a generation ago. And Mr. Bush’s appointees have found allies in like-minded judges named by Mr. Bush’s father and Reagan.

Spew...!!! Some of the young ones may know sumpthin' 'bout the law but most likely zippo about life and its natural reality...