The Day Everybody Got Their Hopes Up

On the face of it, this is good news.

The Justice Department has reopened a long-dormant inquiry into the government's warrantless wiretapping program, a major policy shift only days into the tenure of new Attorney General Michael Mukasey.

The investigation by the department's Office of Professional Responsibility was shut down after the previous attorney general, Alberto Gonzales, refused to grant security clearances to investigators.

"We recently received the necessary security clearances and are now able to proceed with our investigation," H. Marshall Jarrett, counsel for the OPR, wrote to New York Rep. Maurice Hinchey. A copy of the letter, dated Tuesday, was obtained by The Associated Press.

Of course, there were headlines on the first day of Mukasey's testimony blaring "Attorney General Nominee Denounces Waterboarding!" There's a big difference between restarting an investigation and allowing it to actually investigate and follow the evidence wherever it leads. It's the difference between cosmetics and skin. I'm not as thankful as emptywheel for baby steps.

Recall that the inquiry was designed to find out whether the Office of Legal Counsel acted improperly when it approved the illegal wiretapping program. Of course, none of the lawyers in question work at DOJ anymore, and OPR investigation results are not made public. But still, I'm happy to start with baby steps if you promise we'll keep walking.

Of course, there's no evidence of continued walking. The problem with "He's better than Gonzales" Mukasey's waterboarding answer was that it symbolized that his vaunted independence was all an act. Now, after one fairly symbolic act, I'm not ready to return the shibboleth of independence to Michael Mukasey.