The FBI raided the headquarters yesterday of the Office of Special Counsel, an independent federal agency that investigates political interference in the bureaucracy. The raid appears to be a dramatic next step in an Office of Personnel Management inspector general investigation into Scott Bloch, director of the watchdog agency. The New York Times’ Phillip Shenon reports that Bloch is accused of intimidating employees and deleting computer records.

While Bloch may have committed ethical violations, he has also uncovered them. The Office of Special Counsel found that Lurita Doan, former head of the General Services Administration, violated the Hatch Act, the law that bans partisan politics in the bureaucracy. Bloch had been in the midst of investigating other possible Hatch Act violations. But the future of those investigations—and the agency—is now up in the air.  Read Shenon here.  MB

The Washington Post reported yesterday that efforts to try Guantanamo Bay detainees through military commission are going nowhere fast. Today the New York Times’ William Glaberson provides yet another reason why the treatment of these terror suspects bears only incidental similarities to established judicial process:  the Justice Dept. may be eavesdropping on conversations between detainees and their lawyers.

Several lawyers who have tried represent detainees filed an affidavit along with the Center for Constitutional Rights yesterday. These lawyers believe there may be a comprehensive effort by Justice to monitor their conversations with detainees. While the Military Commission Act takes away the right of habeas corpus, it says nothing about attorney-client privilege.  Read Glaberson here. MB

Maybe President Bush finished his morning jog early yesterday. Or a lunch date was abruptly cancelled. Whatever the reason, the Washington Post’s Paul Kane reports that the White House decided to nominate three commissioners to the Federal Election Commission yesterday.

With only two commissioners when there are supposed to be six, The FEC currently lacks a quorum. But the nominations are utterly meaningless if Bush – and Mitch McConnell, (R-Ky.) the Senate’s top Republican – continue to insist they be considered in a package with previous nominee Hans von Spakovsky. Democrats have steadfastly refused to confirm von Spakovsky, who they accuse of politicizing voting rights laws. Meanwhile, during an election year there is only a shadow of an election commission.  Read Kane here. MB

David Addington, the vice-president’s chief of staff, is often called the legal mind behind the Bush administration’s justification of expanded executive powers. Now Addington has been subpoenaed by a House judiciary subcommittee to speak about his role in legal decisions that led to the torture of detainees at Guantanamo Bay.

The New York Times’ Scott Shane reports that the subcommittee has already gotten agreements from John Ashcroft, Douglas Feith and John Yoo to testify publicly. The former Bush administration officials played a central role in determining what, if any, legal boundaries existed in the CIA and Pentagon’s questioning of terror suspects.  Read Shane here. MB