Perhaps predictably, but news nonetheless, the Bush Administration Friday filed its opposition to the ACLU's request that the FISA court release the rulings it issued since January, 2007 concerning Bush's warrantless NSA electronic surveillance program.

The opposition motion, filed in the secret FISA court, is available here (pdf)at the ACLU's website.

The ACLU responds to the Government's filing here.

A federal judge in California issued a nationwide restraining order yesterday against Bush's plan to send "no match" letters to employers that would require them to fire workers whose social security numbers on their W-2 form didn't match the number in the Social Security database, or face big fines and penalties, within 90 days of receiving the letter.

The suit was brought by the AFL-CIO, in response to an August 10 rule announced by Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff.

The unions argued that past experience with no-match letters shows that they are often sent mistakenly because of clerical errors by employers or the government in recording numbers, or because of name changes after a marriage, divorce or other innocent reasons.

The AFL-CIO also said Social Security was never intended to be a means of tracking down illegal immigrants, and is so cumbersome that legal employees will be unable to clear up discrepancies in 90 days.

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Bump and Update: Norman Hsu has made his $2 million bond.

Update: The Justice Dept. will investigate Mr. Hsu's fundraising activity. Guess DOJ isn't that broke after all.

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Original Post:
Norman Hsu Surrenders, Held on $2 Million Bail

Democratic contributor and bundler Norman Hsu has turned himself in on the California Arrest Warrant. Bond is $2 million (the amount on the outstanding warrant) and a hearing will be held Sept. 5 at which the Judge may reduce it to $1 million.

I won't be surprised if he bonds out today on the $2 million. Then again, maybe he'd rather do a holiday weekend in jail than fork over an extra mil.

He went to court with his California attorney and his publicist. He's got a great lawyer, James Brosnahan. Brosnahan's last high profile client was "American Taliban" John Walker Lindh.

More of Hsu's political donations are being returned:

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A North Carolina judge today found ex-DA Mike Nifong in contempt of court for lying to the court about providing DNA tests to defense counsel in the abysmal Duke lacrosse players proseuction.

Superior Court Judge W. Osmond Smith III sentenced Nifong, who has already been stripped of his law license and has resigned from office, to a single day in jail. He had faced as many as 30 days in jail and a fine as high as $500.

Prof. K.C. Johnson live-blogged the contempt trial.

The Idaho Statesman reports that Sen. Larry Craig will make an announcement about his future Saturday.

Idaho's Governor has already decided on his successor:

Gov. Butch Otter already appears to have settled on a successor: Lt. Gov. Jim Risch, according to several Republicans familiar with internal deliberations.

Update: CNN reports he will resign, effective September 30th.

Today was Karl Rove's last day at the White House. He got all choked up.

With Larry Craig going tomorrow, I suspect this song will be in my head all weekend -- Patty Smythe and Scandal, "Goodbye to You."

Via atrios, Think Progress has the video of Iraq war "critic" and proven liar Michael O'Hanlon criticizing the GAO's Iraq report because it does not jibe with General Petraeus' conclusions:

“I have to be quite critical of the GAO. . . . Gen. Petraeus just gave an interview, I think yesterday, to an Australian paper, in which he said that there could be a 75 percent reduction in sectarian killing since the winter time. Now let’s allow for the possibility that Petraeus’ data isn’t quite right. . . . I hope it’s a flaw in the draft that will be improved in the final result.

Michael O'Hanlon is a dishonest person.

He says he supports Hillary Clinton. She needs to immediately disavow any connection with Mr. O'Hanlon.

We have three new diaries today, two written by AndGarden and one by Denver journalist Dave Cullen, all well worth reading.

• Still Blackmailing Homos
• The House, Not the Senate Will Win the War
• Matt Bai, Michiko Kakutani, and the Netroots

Please read them, and if you like them, hit the "recommend button."

TalkLeft is seeking new diarists this week. Details here.

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White House spokesman Tony Snow will leave September 14. Dana Perino will replace him.

CNN reports Sen. Larry Craig may resign today.

Fox News reports:

The Republican National Committee has warned Sen. Larry Craig privately that if he does not resign, the party will not provide him financial support in the upcoming election and it will recruit a Republican opponent to run against him.

I have been extremely careful in not labelling General David Petraeus as essentially becoming a political hack for the Bush Administration's Iraq policy. I have argued that he will deliver a soldier's report, one intent on shoring up support for a mission he believes in and feels he can accomplish. I have always argued he can not be, by definition, an honest evaluator of his own strategy and performance. That just seems common sense to me. But it is becoming increasingly clear, for even someone like me that really does not want to believe it, that General Petraeus and his operation have chosen to become political hacks doing the bidding of the Bush Administration and Republicans. This story in the Washington Post provides damning proof of what Petraeus has become:

The sheets of paper seemed to be everywhere the lawmakers went in the Green Zone, distributed to Iraqi officials, U.S. officials and uniformed military of no particular rank. So when Rep. James P. Moran Jr. (D-Va.) asked a soldier last weekend just what he was holding, the congressman was taken aback to find out.

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Woe is me, cries the Justice Department, according to the Wall St. Journal.

In the past few years, U.S. attorneys' offices around the country have been unable to fill vacancies. Lawyers sometimes can't travel to interview witnesses. Even funds for basic office needs such as photocopying documents and obtaining deposition transcripts have been cut, according to current and former officials.

Apparently,

Department of Justice data show the impact. Prosecutions are down overall, with large drops in categories such as drugs, violent crime and white-collar offenses.

Could have fooled me. But assuming that's true, what's the reason? How about the war in Iraq?

After the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, federal priorities shifted to terrorism from routine crime fighting. The cost of the Iraq war also prompted Congress and the White House to slow the growth of many types of domestic spending.

....[M]ore than 100 lawyers and administrative personnel from U.S. attorneys' offices have gone to Iraq to help the fledgling government there. The offices generally pay the salaries of the seconded attorneys, which would typically be about $120,000 a year plus an additional 25% in combat pay.

Easy answer: Shift the priorities back to crime-fighting, bring the prosecutors home from Iraq.

There is one group of prosecutions that have increased: Immigration cases.

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