Evan Perez of the Wall Street Journal reports that new Attorney General Michael Mukasey is reopening a Dept. of Justice inquiry about the disputed warrantless surveillance program supported by the White House in the years immediately after September 11th.  The inquiry, which will examine the department’s own lawyers as well as their interaction with the White House, was originally halted during Alberto Gonzales’s tenure at DOJ.

Perez calls Mukasey’s initiative, so soon after his confirmation, "an early test of Mr. Mukasey’s vow to operate independently from the White House."  DOJ spokesman Brian Roehrkasse said the investigation concerns the degree to which Justice lawyers "complied with their ethical obligations of providing competent legal advice to their client." It appears that the Department is ready to look at whether its own attorneys were, to put it bluntly, in the White House’s pocket.

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