CRS says the briefings on NSA spying were illegal, too

On Jan. 6, the Congressional Research Service released a report saying that the legal justifications the administration was citing for the NSA spying did "not appear to be well grounded." Tonight, they released another report saying that the "full briefings" the administration provided Congress on the issue are "inconsistent with the law."

And just to give you an idea of how questionable the practice on briefings is, Peter Hoekstra, Republican chairman of the House Intelligence Committee is sitting on the fence,

The spokesman, Jamal D. Ware, said that Mr. Hoekstra, a Michigan Republican, believed the briefings had been adequate for Congressional oversight but that he was open to expanding them.

"The chairman is taking it under consideration and does support some expansion of the number of Intelligence Committee members who are briefed," Mr. Ware said.

In other words, I'm not saying they were doing it wrong, but I'd like to do it right.

Also interesting that they placed the "non-partisan" label as the sixth word of the article, whereas in the last one it was in the last paragraph in an attributed quote.

ALSO tonight, kudos to the Democrats' communications people. (don't say that often) The top story on the WaPo's front page in huge type is "Democrats Assail Republican 'Culture of Corruption'". Getting that "Culture of Corruption" phrase out there. Good work. (It got published with that headline on the front page.)