To follow this narrative, it helps to know that

1. The OLC is "a kind of mini Supreme Court".

2. The OLC changed hands in 2003.

3. The new guy, Goldsmith, reversed some of Bybee's opinions.

http://msnbc.msn.com/id/11079547

By Daniel Klaidman, Stuart Taylor Jr. and Evan Thomas
Newsweek

Feb. 6, 2006 issue

. . . Addington was just getting started. Minimizing dissent by going behind the backs of bureaucratic rivals was how he played the game. A potentially formidable obstacle, however, was the Justice Department's Office of Legal Counsel. The OLC is the most important government office you've never heard of. Among its bosses—before they went on the Supreme Court—were William Rehnquist and Antonin Scalia. Within the executive branch, including the Pentagon and CIA, the OLC acts as a kind of mini Supreme Court. Its carefully worded opinions are regarded as binding precedent—final say on what the president and all his agencies can and cannot legally do.

. . . [In 2003, after Bybee left the OLC,] Jack Goldsmith, a law professor who was working in the general counsel's office at the Pentagon, was the eventual compromise choice to head the OLC. Goldsmith seemed like a natural fit. He was brilliant, a graduate of Oxford and Yale Law School, and he was conservative. Like Yoo, he was tagged a "New Sovereigntist" for his scholarly argument that international laws including prohibitions on human-rights abuses should not be treated as binding law by the U.S. courts.

But somehow, in the vetting of Goldsmith, one of his important views was overlooked. Goldsmith is no executive-power absolutist.

. . . Addington soon suffered pangs of buyer's remorse over Goldsmith. There was no way to simply ignore the new head of the OLC. Over time, Addington's heartburn grew much worse. In December, Goldsmith informed the Defense Department that Yoo's March 2003 torture memo was "under review" and could no longer be relied upon. It is almost unheard-of for an administration to overturn its own OLC opinions. Addington was beside himself.

. . . It was Goldsmith's job to advise the A.G. on the legality of the ["Terrorist Surveillance"] program.

. . . The White House was told: no reauthorization.

Now, here comes the part where Newsweek got steered wrong in 2006.

[USDOJ and OLC] imposed tougher legal standards before permitting eavesdropping on communications into the United States.
- - Newsweek, Feb. 6, 2006

Technically, that sentence is true, but what actually happened, as confirmed today, is that the White House kept going anyway, even without permission from the OLC. The White House continued the "T.S.P." -- without making any concessions to "tougher legal standards" -- even after the USDOJ and OLC had told the White House that the "T.S.P." was illegal.

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=10192754

The room was dark. Mrs. Ashcroft was standing by the bed. Comey said that Ashcroft, in his sixth day in intensive care, was not in good shape. He was unfocused, disoriented.

"And it was only a matter of minutes that the door opened and in walked Mr. Gonzales, carrying an envelope, and Mr. Card," Comey said. "They came over and stood by the bed, greeted the attorney general very briefly, and then Mr. Gonzales began to discuss why they were there — to seek his approval for a matter."

Then, Ashcroft did something that stunned Comey. He lifted his head off the pillow and explained in strong, detailed terms why he would not sign the paper.

"And as he laid back down, he said, 'But that doesn't matter because I'm not the attorney general. There is the attorney general.' And he pointed to me," Comey testified. "I was just to his left. The two men did not acknowledge me. They turned and walked from the room."

That was not the end of it. Before Comey left the hospital, he received an urgent call from White House Chief of Staff Andy Card.

"Mr. Card was very upset and demanded that I come to the White House immediately," Come said. "I responded that after the conduct I had just witnessed, I would not meet with him without a witness present. He replied, 'What conduct? We were just there to wish him well.'"

This is beyond "The West Wing" now. This is "The Godfather." And remember that Andy Card was a delivery boy, not a boss. Here's a scene from Paul O'Neill's book, "The Price of Loyalty".

"Go get me Andy Card," Bush said to one of the Secret Service agents. Card, the designee as chief of staff, entered from an adjoining room . . . Bush looked impatiently at Card, hard-eyed. "You're the chief of staff. You think you're up to getting us some cheeseburgers?"

Card nodded. No one laughed. He all but raced out of the room.

Neither Card nor Gonzales had the kind of imagination or independence to have gone to Ashcroft's hospital room on their own initiative. Who issued the orders?

http://instapundit.com/archives2/005216.php

May 15, 2007
I'VE SAID BEFORE that Alberto Gonzales was managing to turn John Ashcroft into a *** http://althouse.blogspot.com/2007/05/i-thought-i-had-just-witnessed-effort.html *** retrospective hero. More evidence for that proposition.


UPDATE: John Hinderaker has *** http://powerlineblog.com/archives/017649.php *** reviewed the Comey testimony and says there's less to this story than generally reported: "It's an interesting story. But, based on what we know, it is not clear that there is anything discreditable anywhere in it."
- - posted at 07:52 PM by Glenn Reynolds

I was the 26th digger.