The Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals heard arguments on Aug. 15 regarding the administration's claims that two lawsuits involving the National Security Agency's spying program cannot move forward because of the state secrets privilege. The administration argues that the cases involve secret matters essential to protecting national security.

The Senate Environment and Public Works Committee voted 10-9 to approve the Toxic Right-to-Know Protection Act (S. 595) on July 31. The act would reverse a December 2006 U.S. Environmental Protection Agency rule change to the Toxics Release Inventory (TRI) that significantly reduced toxic release reporting requirements for polluting facilities.

Just before Congress broke for its August recess, members vastly expanded the Bush administration's authority to wiretap communications without warrants.