The Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel is under fire for the just-released March 2003 memo to the Pentagon that essentially condones torture. But as the Washington Post’s Dan Eggen and Josh White report, a separate alarming memo has surfaced—and this legal brief may not have been rescinded.

Justice wrote to the Pentagon in October 2001, stating that the 4^th Amendment, which prohibits citizens from being searched without a warrant, does not apply during the "war on terror." It bears monitoring whether this brief was ever applied and what other constitution-defying documents will trickle out. Read Eggen and White here. MB

The Federal Aviation Administration had been bracing for this embarrassment for more than a month. Yesterday FAA inspectors Douglas A. Peter and Bobby Boutris told the House transportation committee that agency officials stymied their inspection of Southwest Airlines planes. It seems the officials were taking their orders from Southwest. The Washington Post’s Del Quentin Wilbur reports that the whistleblowers may hint at a larger problem: An aviation agency that depends on the voluntary inspections and compliance of industry. Read Wilbur here. MB

Commerce Department Secretary Carlos M. Gutierrez admitted yesterday that a plan to  digitize the collection of Census Bureau information is a bust. The Census Bureau gave $600 million given to Florida-based Harris Corp to make tiny, snazzy computers that would collect information from citizens who don’t fill out census forms.

But the Los Angeles Times’ Ben DuBose reports that the computers won’t be ready by the 2010 count. That means 600,000 temporary workers will walk door-to-door across the nation collecting the information needed to determine federal and state funding as well as Congressional representation. A private contract has yet to rewarded for their rental cars and sneakers.  Read DuBose here.  MB