The Senate Judiciary Committee grilled Attorney General Alberto Gonzalez Monday on the first day of hearings related to the legality of President Bush's embattled wiretapping program.
The procedure commenced on a partisan note when Sen. Russ Feingold, D-Wis., demanded Gonzalez testify under oath, a proposal that was roundly rejected by Republicans on the committee. A roll call vote decided Gonzalez did not have to be sworn in to testify.
The hearings were requested after a New York Times article revealed that Bush's domestic surveillance program, hidden from the public since shortly after Sept. 11, 2001, may have tagged the correspondence of innocent Americans without a warrant.
Criticism of Bush has not been limited to Democrats. The panel's chairman, Sen. Arlen Specter, R-Penn., argued the president should have sought approval through Congress or through a special court required to approve secret surveillance through the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978.
Feingold argued Gonzalez deliberately lied to Congress under oath during his 2005 confirmation hearings, when Gonzalez said he would not authorize the violation of existing criminal statutes.
