Mukasey assures senators 4th Amendment is intact

Atty. Gen. Michael Mukasey told senators Thursday that a 2001 Justice Department memo insisting that 4th Amendment safeguards against unreasonable searches did not cover military activities within the United States was “not in force.”

Under sharp questioning from Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) at an appropriations committee hearing, Mukasey said the “4th Amendment applies across the board, regardless of whether we’re in wartime or in peacetime,” even though the memo by the department’s Office of Legal Counsel had said otherwise.

Lawmakers pressed Mukasey to publish the unclassified document after department spokesmen said it was being withheld under a doctrine of attorney-client confidentiality.

Mukasey cautioned members of the appropriations committee that other factors were at play. The Justice Department, he said, must consider the interests of other federal agencies and protect the flow of ideas.