Recently, the American Bar Association named former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales as “Lawyer of the Year” for being the major newsmaker of 2007. Today, the ABA issued a clarification, giving Gonzales a new title: “Newsmaker of the Year“:

The article defined that term as the year’s biggest legal newsmaker, identifying former U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales as the major newsmaker of 2007. The Journal regrets that we did not make this theme clear.

We appreciate the feedback we’ve received, and we’re acting on it. So that there can be no confusion, the term “Lawyers of the Year” has been changed in the headline and story to “Newsmakers of the Year.” The story is otherwise unchanged from its original version.

HT: (Wonkette)

Congress passed the defense authorization bill Friday, “sending President Bush a defense bill requiring no change in strategy” in Iraq and “another $189.4 billion for the Iraq and Afghan wars.” The legislation also authorizes “more help to troops returning from combat and set conditions on contractors and pricey weapons programs” as well as a 3.5 percent pay raise for service members. Bush is expected to sign the legislation into law.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) announced today that he will bring the Senate Intelligence Committee’s version of the FISA surveillance bill as the “base text” for a vote on Monday. The Intelligence Committee legislation contains retroactive immunity for telecommunications companies. Reid said he will offer the Judiciary Committee’s bill, which does not contain the immunity clause, as a standing amendment.

See Reid’s full statement on the legislation below. Read more

In an upcoming issue of Foreign Affairs journal, former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee criticizes the Bush administration for having an “arrogant bunker mentality” that “has been counterproductive at home and abroad.” Nevertheless, Huckabee — who supports the war in Iraq — said he would “not withdraw troops from Iraq any faster than Gen. David Petraeus, the top U.S. commander there, recommends.”

Yesterday, the House passed a bill that bans waterboarding and holds the CIA “to the interrogation tactics permitted by the Army Field Manual on Human Intelligence Collector Operations.” President Bush has said he would veto the bill.

But he may not get the opportunity. Earlier today, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) placed a hold on the Senate version of the bill, blocking it from coming to a vote. He said the bill was “ill-advised” and would “destroy” a “lawful” program:

The Senate was prevented from voting on the intelligence bill because Sen. Lindsay Graham, R-S.C., placed a hold on it while the GOP procedural challenge goes forward.

“I think quite frankly applying the Army field manual to the CIA would be ill-advised and would destroy a program that I think is lawful and helps the country,” Graham said in an interview.

Graham’s effort to protect Bush’s torture policies directly contradicts his recent anti-torture rhetoric. Just this week, Graham raked Brigadier General Thomas W. Hartmann, the legal adviser at Guantanamo Bay, over the coals for refusing to call waterboarding torture, even if done by Iranian “secret security agents” on an American pilot.

Given his record, the gap between Graham’s rhetoric and his legislative action isn’t altogether surprising.

In October, Graham hinted that he might oppose Michael Mukasey’s nomination unless he said waterboarding was illegal. But after Mukasey continued to refuse to explicitly call waterboarding torture, Graham reneged and helped push Mukasey through the Senate.

So, despite the fact that Graham believes a person doesn’t need “a lot of knowledge about the law” to know that waterboarding “violates” [the] Geneva Convention,” he is now blocking efforts to outlaw the CIA’s use of it.

Attorney General Michael Mukasey “sharply rebuffed congressional demands for details about the Justice Department’s inquiry” into the destroyed CIA videotapes today. In letters to a few key senators, Mukasey said complying with congressional demands for information would make it appear as though the department was “subject to political influence.” Senate Judiciary Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-VT) said he was “disappointed” by Mukasey’s decision because “oversight fosters accountability.” Leahy said he plans to address the matter in an oversight hearing “early next year.”