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The Senate Intelligence Committee is preparing to launch an investigation of the CIA's detention and interrogation programs under President Bush, setting the stage for a sweeping examination of some of most secretive and controversial operations in recent agency history. The probe is aimed at uncovering new information on the origins of the programs as well as scrutinizing how they were executed -- from the conditions at clandestine CIA prison sites to the interrogation regimens used to break Al Qaeda prisoners, according to Senate aides familiar with the inquiry plans.

Senate Judiciary Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) has scheduled a committee vote Thursday on contempt resolutions against White House Chief of Staff Josh Bolten and former presidential political guru Karl Rove for failing to respond to subpoenas. Under Judiciary Committee rules, the vote could be postponed for a week, but Leahy said he intends to move the criminal contempt resolutions as soon as possible. Last week, he rejected the White House's executive privilege claim in preventing Rove and Bolten from appearing before his panel, calling it "overbroad, unsubstantiated, and not legally valid," setting the stage for Thursday's showdown. Rove and Bolten...

Senate Judiciary Committee chairman Sen. Patrick Leahy will vote against the nomination of Michael Mukasey as attorney general, a source close to the senator told CNN Friday. The Vermont Democrat, who is to make an announcement Friday afternoon, is the latest committee Democrat who will oppose Mukasey because of questions about his views on the interrogation technique called "waterboarding" and the president's power to order electronic surveillance.

WASHINGTON (AP) -- A top Senate Democrat on Monday threatened to hold members of the Bush administration in contempt for not producing subpoenaed information about the legal justification for President Bush's secretive eavesdropping program. "When the Senate comes back in the session, I'll bring it up before the committee," said Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt. and chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee. "I prefer cooperation to contempt. Right now, there's no question that they are in contempt of the valid order of the Congress." Leahy's committee on June 27 subpoenaed the Justice Department, National Security Council and the offices of the...

The incoming Senate Judiciary chairman pledged greater scrutiny Friday of computerized government anti-terrorism screening after learning that millions of Americans who travel internationally have been assigned risk assessments over the last four years without their knowledge. "Data banks like this are overdue for oversight," said Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., who will take over Judiciary in January. "That is going to change in the new Congress." The Associated Press reported Thursday that millions of Americans and foreigners crossing U.S. borders in the past four years have been assessed by the computerized Automated Targeting System, or ATS, designed to help pick out...

In 1994 Sen. Pat "Leaky" Leahy co-wrote a law that forced telecommunications carriers to build convenient wiretap features into their networks enabling the kind of telephone records collection now at the heart of the controversy over the National Security Agency's terrorist surveillance operation. In recent days Leahy has called the NSA's actions troubling and potentially illegal - saying they show that the Bush administration is treating Americans like terrorists. "'The secret collection of phone call records of tens of millions of Americans?" he exclaimed after USA Today blew the lid off the program last week. "Are you telling me that...

The Boston Globe -- December 29, 2005 Leahy wants to know about Pentagon spying on protests COLCHESTER, Vt. --Sen. Patrick Leahy wants the Defense Department to give him the details about two Vermont anti-war protests that were monitored by government officials. Leahy, a Democrat, said Vermont had a long tradition of peaceful political protest. ...snip... "Besides, I told the Department of Defense, if they really want to hear Vermonters speak out against the war, they don't have to send a camera crew to snoop around Vermont, just turn on C-SPAN," Leahy said. "I do it on the Senate floor all...

sean penn carries in New orleans

WASHINGTON, (AP) -- If a fight breaks out over President Bush's pick for the Supreme Court, Sen. Patrick Leahy will be the razor's edge of the Democratic resistance, answering a demand in his party for sharp elbows and a tart tongue. Hopeful talk of consultation and consensus has peppered the political dialogue since Justice Sandra Day O'Connor announced on July 1 that she will retire. Few in Washington, however, are under the illusion that this upbeat tone will last. The expectation is that Bush's choice for a nominee will touch off a fierce partisan fight. Leahy, the top Democrat on...

UNITED NATIONS -- A leading Senate Democrat said Monday that he opposes legislation that would restrict U.S. funding to the United Nations, saying the measure would hurt American efforts to reform the world body. Vermont Sen. Patrick Leahy said that many U.S. lawmakers see the U.N. as "an easy place to beat up" and that both Democrats and Republicans — including President Bush — should speak up in its defense. "I know there are a lot of members — unfortunately it's sometimes been both parties — who find it very easy to get applause lines back in their home states...

Mary Beth Cahill says that the photo was leaked by someone at NASA, that there were no official photographers and no campaign plans to take any photos. HA!

WASHINGTON (AP) — Majority Leader Bill Frist refused on Sunday to criticize Vice President Dick Cheney for cursing on the floor of the Senate in a confrontation with a Democratic senator. The Tennessee Republican indicated that Cheney's outburst at Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., can be attributed to political passions aroused by the election year. As vice president, Cheney acts as president of the Senate, although the majority leader has more authority over the body's operations. On Tuesday, as Cheney and the senators gathered in the chamber for a photograph, Leahy struck up a conversation. Cheney challenged the senator about his...

McMullen Announces Tuesday, June 15th, Jack McMullen officially launches his campaign to unseat five-time incumbent Patrick Leahy. The campaign kick-off event will take place at the Wyndham Hotel, 60 Battery Street, in Burlington, between 1:30 and 3:30 pm. All are welcome to join in the festivities and in support. Four years ago, Vermont Republicans took back the House. Two years ago, we took back the Governor’s Office. This year, we will reclaim a seat in the United States Senate! P.S. To help us plan, please click on the link below to RSVP and indicate the number of guests you will...

Acclaimed wetland was result of leaky pipe An ecologically-acclaimed wetland in the grounds of a school in Taiwan turned out to be the product of a leaking water pipe. The wetland was the pride and joy of students at Taipei's Kungkuan Elementary School for almost three decades. The school had just received a £130,000 grant to turn the wetland into an ecology park to house butterflies and insects, reports the China Times Express. The embarrassment surfaced after water authorities, acting on a report by a nearby resident, checked the school's water pipes and found the leak last month, the paper...