President Obama said tonight he supports narrowing the state secrets privilege, a legal defense he has already used three times to shield evidence in lawsuits challenging Bush administration counterterrorism policies.

"I actually think that the state secrets doctrine should be modified," Obama said at his White House press conference tonight. "I think right now it's overbroad."

Obama's stance is perhaps the most tangible sign yet that he is ready to dial back his predecessor's expansive exercise of executive power. Bush frequently used the privilege to thwart legal challenges to his policies.

Legislation to limit the privilege is pending in Congress. Obama said Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. and White House counsel Gregory B. Craig are working on the issue.

Republicans boycotted the Senate Judiciary Committee's April 1 confirmation hearing for 7th Circuit nominee David F. Hamilton, complaining that Democrats were rushing the nomination.

So Senate Judiciary Chairman Patrick J. Leahy bowed to their wishes and invited Hamilton back for a second confirmation hearing Wednesday.

But Hamilton had to face just one GOP questioner at the hearing: Oklahoma Republican Tom Coburn, who acted as ranking committee member after Pennsylvanian Arlen Specter's surprise defection to the Democratic party yesterday. Coburn asked Hamilton whether he would look to international law to help him decide cases.

Senate Judiciary Chairman Patrick J. Leahy has invited 9th Circuit judge Jay S. Bybee to testify before the panel on his role in writing several Justice Department memoranda on the legality of harsh interrogation techniques for suspected terrorists.

"By coming forward to testify, you will be able to explain your position with regard to these matters, including your involvement and your knowledge regarding how these memos were written and approved, what considerations went into that process, who was consulted in that process and the roles of various individuals," Leahy, D-Vt., said.

Bybee served as Assistant Attorney General for the Justice Department's Office of Legal Counsel from 2001 to 2003 before taking his seat on the 9th Circuit. He signed two controversial August 2002 memoranda that outlined legal rationales for techniques that critics say amounted to torture.

Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia made it clear Wednesday he thinks members of Congress are too politically craven ever to allow the Voting Rights Act of 1965 to lapse.

The high court heard oral argument in a case testing the constitutionality of the 2006 reauthorization of Section 5 of the law, which requires some states and local jurisdictions to "pre-clear" election systems changes with the Justice Department. Principal Deputy Solicitor General Neal K. Katyal pointed out that many lawmakers from the covered jurisdictions voted to reauthorize those provisions.

"They're elected under this system," Scalia scoffed. "Why should they kick it away?"

Democratic Sen. Russ Feingold today criticized the Obama administration's use of the state secrets privilege to shield its predecessor's controversial counterterrorism policies from public scrutiny.

The Justice Department has invoked the privilege in three court cases since Obama took office -- two that concern Bush's warrantless surveillance of U.S. citizens and one against a company that allegedly helped the CIA send detainees to other countries to be tortured, a practice known as "rendition."

The Wisconsin senator issued a report card grading Obama on "restoring the rule of law." Obama got fairly good grades in some areas -- but earned a "D" on state secrets.

On Wednesday, the Supreme Court is hearing oral argument in a case testing the constitutionality of one of the main sections of the Voting Rights Act of 1965. The court's opinion, expected by the end of June, could dramatically alter federal voting regulations.

The court is weighing whether it was proper for Congress to reauthorize Section 5 of the law in 2006. That section requires jurisdictions with a history of voter discrimination to obtain advanced approval from the Justice Department before making changes to their electoral procedures.

Eight states, mostly in the South, along with much of Virginia and dozens of cities and counties across the country, fall under the requirements.

Senate Judiciary Chairman Patrick J. Leahy announced Tuesday that 7th Circuit nominee David F. Hamilton would make a second appearance before the committee.

Leahy bowed to committee Republicans, who argued that the committee's April 1 hearing on Hamilton's nomination came too soon after President Obama nominated him on March 17. Republicans boycotted the April 1 hearing. Leahy said Hamilton would appear again on April 29.

"It has been four weeks since Judge Hamilton first appeared before the Committee, and I am disappointed that Committee Republicans have yet to ask a single question of this nominee," Leahy said. "Nonetheless, at the request of the ranking member, I have invited Judge Hamilton to testify on April 29. Judge Hamilton has the strong support of his home state senators, Senator Lugar and Senator Bayh. After Judge Hamilton appears again before the Committee, I hope Republican members will not further delay our consideration of this qualified judicial nominee."

Unhappy Senate Judiciary Republicans have a couple of procedural tools in their arsenal to bottle up judicial nominations in the committee, should they choose to use them.

There are 11 Democrats and eight Republicans on the committee. The Republicans have already protested chairman Patrick J. Leahy's pace on the nomination of District Judge David F. Hamilton of Indiana to the 7th Circuit, boycotting his April 1 confirmation hearing.

Under committee rule number three, no business can be transacted unless at least eight members -- including at least two Republicans -- are present. If GOP senators boycott a committee meeting on a judicial nomination, they could deny Leahy the ability to put the nomination to a vote.

Then there's committee rule four, which allows for any member to object to bringing a matter to a vote. If there is such an objection, Leahy can only override it with 10 "aye" votes -- at least one of which has to be cast by a Republican.

Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. is moving to revamp Justice Department procedures in the wake of the prosecutorial debacle in the Ted Stevens case. But Holder said today that he is not reviewing the Justice Department's prosecution of former Alabama Gov. Donald Siegelman on corruption charges, nor other corruption cases involving Alaskan officials.

The House Judiciary Committee has been probing allegations that the Siegelman case was politically motivated by the Bush administration. Siegelman, a Democrat, was convicted in 2006.

"I don't have any reviews under way at this point, but I always want to ensure that the Justice Department acts in a way that is consistent with the long tradition of this great department," Holder said.

Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick J. Leahy has rejected the idea of having another confirmation hearing on 7th Circuit Court nominee David F. Hamilton. Leahy made his position clear in an exchange of letters with ranking Republican Arlen Specter that has laid bare the mounting tension between the two lawmakers over the confirmation process.

Leahy held a hearing on Hamilton's nomination on April 1. Republicans boycotted the hearing. Specter appeared briefly to declare the boycott and protest Leahy's rapid pace on Hamilton, whom President Obama nominated on March 17.

But the day before the hearing, Specter and the other seven Republicans on the committee wrote to Leahy to request another hearing on Hamilton. They cited a Senate rule that provides for a majority of the minority side of committees, other than Appropriations, to call witnessess for follow-on hearings.

Lawmakers have dropped bills in both the House and Senate to counter a federal judge's preliminary injunction against the carrying of concealed firearms in national parks.

The Interior Department issued a new rule last December allowing for the carrying of concealed, loaded weapons in national parks and national wildlife refuges, in accordance with state and applicable federal laws. Previously, guns in national parks generally had been prohibited unless they were unloaded and stored in a way that they could not be used readily. Two years earlier, 51 Democratic and Republican senators had written to the department asking for that prohibition to be eased.

On March 19, U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly issued a preliminary injunction against the new rule, in combined challenges by the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence and the National Parks Conservation Association in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.

The Justice Department has invoked the state secrets privilege in a bid to get a California federal judge to dismiss a lawsuit against National Security Agency electronic surveillance.

Department lawyers filed a memorandum to U.S. District Judge Vaughn R. Walker last Friday urging him to dismiss the lawsuit, Jewel v. NSA. It argued that litigating the case would require disclosure of classified information protected by the privilege.

The plaintiffs in the case, represented by the Electronic Frontier Foundation, are alleging that the NSA has surveilled not only the communications of suspected terrorists, but the telephone calls and emails of millions of Americans.

But the Justice Department -- buttressed by public and classfied declarations from Director of National Intelligence Dennis C. Blair and NSA Chief of Staff Deborah A. Bonnani -- said the case shouldn't proceed

U.S. District Judge John D. Bates ruled today that three non-Afghan detainees held as enemy combatants at the U.S. air base at Bagram, Afghanistan have a constitutional right to habeas corpus.

Bates based his ruling on the Supreme Court's opinion last year in Boumediene v. Bush that detainees held at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, have the right to challenge their detentions in U.S. court. The Bush and Obama administrations have both argued that Bagram detainees are not entitled to habeas corpus. Bates held off on ruling on the claim of an Afghan citizen captured outside Afghanistan and transported to Bagram.

Bates' ruling could complicate Obama's development of a new policy for arresting and imprisoning suspected terrorists. Most of the publicity about that effort has focused on Guantanamo Bay. But there are hundreds of detainees imprisoned at Bagram, as well. And because Obama has ordered Guantanamo closed by next January, his advisors have to decide where to put suspected terrorists whom they can neither try, for whatever reason, nor safely release.

President Obama has nominated two candidates for seats on the 2nd Circuit and 4th Circuit appeals courts.

Obama nominated Gerard Lynch, a New York federal district judge, to the 2nd Circuit, and Maryland federal district judge Andre Davis to the 4th Circuit. "Judges Lynch and Davis are two jurists with exceptional records of integrity and fairness," Obama said. "They will be voices of reason and even-handedness on the second and fourth circuits. Their service to the district courts of New York and Maryland has been invaluable and I am honored to put them forward to serve on the second and fourth circuits."

Senate Judiciary Republicans boycotted today's confirmation hearing for the nomination of David F. Hamilton for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 7th Circuit.

Vermont Democrat Patrick J. Leahy insisted on holding Hamilton's confirmation hearing, despite GOP requests for a delay until after the upcoming two-week congressional recess.

Leahy not only held the hearing, he scheduled two nominees for executive branch posts to appear as well. And shortly before the hearing started, Leahy moved it to the beautifully adorned but very small Senate Appropriations hearing room on the ground floor of the Capitol. Dozens of relatives and friends of the nominees, along with committee staff and reporters, crammed themselves into the standing-room-only hearing. There weren't even enough chairs at the table for all of the committee members, had they chosen to show up.

Our CQ colleague Leah Nylen reports that a House Judiciary impeachment task force probing allegations against Louisiana federal judge G. Thomas Porteous doesn't currently have any members.

Porteous is alleged to have lied on bankruptcy financial disclosure forms. Last year, the Judicial Conference referred allegations to the House. Last September, the committee voted to begin an investigation, and established a task force of committee members led by California Democrat Adam B. Schiff and Virginia Republican Robert W. Goodlatte. In October, the committee hired [Alan I. Baron], a partner at Holland & Knight, as special counsel to oversee the investigation.

The House voted to reauthorize the investigation for the 111th Congress on Jan. 13. . But the committee never officially reappointed members to the task force.That's a necessary formality, especially since two of the original task force members no longer sit on the Judiciary Committee. Committee aides said the panel will eventually have 12 new members, and Schiff and Goodlatte will be renamed as chairman and ranking. In the mean time, Baron will continue his investigation.