Secret Court Judge Resigns; Senate Republicans Press for Hearings into NSA Program

I feel like I need to start a completely separate blog just to keep up with all the news on the domestic spying story. In the latest news, U.S. District Court Judge James Robertson has resigned from the secret intelligence court in protest over the NSA domestic intelligence gathering program:

A federal judge has resigned from the court that oversees government surveillance in intelligence cases in protest of President Bush's secret authorization of a domestic spying program, according to two sources.

U.S. District Judge James Robertson, one of 11 members of the secret Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, sent a letter to Chief Justice John D. Roberts Jr. late Monday notifying him of his resignation without providing an explanation.

Two associates familiar with his decision said yesterday that Robertson privately expressed deep concern that the warrantless surveillance program authorized by the president in 2001 was legally questionable and may have tainted the FISA court's work.

Integrity is a rare find in Washington. Robertson is not alone in possessing it however. Apparently some Senate Republicans are troubled enough by the program to call for hearings even in the run-up to mid-term elections.

Word of Robertson's resignation came as two Senate Republicans yesterday joined the call for congressional investigations into the National Security Agency's warrantless interception of telephone calls and e-mails to overseas locations by U.S. citizens suspected of links to terrorist groups. They questioned the legality of the operation and the extent to which the White House kept Congress informed.

Sens. Chuck Hagel (Neb.) and Olympia J. Snowe (Maine) echoed concerns raised by Arlen Specter (R-Pa.), chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, who has promised hearings in the new year.

And so the fallout continues.