The Card Sacrifice

Joan Biskupic writes in USA Today: "Besides testing a key part of the White House's legal strategy in the war on terrorism, the case has become an important barometer of judges' authority to review presidential actions during wartime.

Gina Holland writes for the Associated Press: "Hamdan is among about 490 foreigners being held as 'enemy combatants' at the U.S. military prison in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Ten of the men, including Hamdan, have been charged with crimes."

Charles Lane writes in today's Washington Post: "On the eve of oral argument in a key Supreme Court case on the rights of alleged terrorists, a group of retired U.S. generals and admirals has asked Justice Antonin Scalia to recuse himself, arguing that his recent public comments on the subject make it impossible for him to appear impartial. . . .

"Scalia's speech was first reported by Newsweek 's Web site on Sunday."

Immigration Watch

Jonathan Weisman writes in The Washington Post: "A key Senate panel broke with the House's get-tough approach to illegal immigration yesterday and sent to the floor a broad revision of the nation's immigration laws that would provide lawful employment to millions of undocumented workers while offering work visas to hundreds of thousands of new immigrants every year.

"With bipartisan support, the Senate Judiciary Committee voted 12 to 6 to side with President Bush's general approach to an immigration issue that is dividing the country, fracturing the Republican Party and ripening into one of the biggest political debates of this election year. Conservatives have loudly demanded that the government tighten control of U.S. borders and begin deporting illegal immigrants. But in recent weeks, the immigrant community has risen up in protest, marching by the hundreds of thousands to denounce what they see as draconian measures under consideration in Washington."

Rachel L. Swarns writes in the New York Times: "Any legislation that passes the Senate will have to be reconciled with the tough border security bill passed in December by the Republican-controlled House, which defied President Bush's call for a temporary worker plan.

"The Senate panel's plan, which also includes provisions to strengthen border security, was quickly hailed by Democrats, a handful of Republicans and business leaders, as well as by the immigrant advocacy organizations and church groups that have sent tens of thousands of supporters of immigrant rights into the streets of a number of cities to push for such legislation in recent days. . . .

"Scott McClellan, the White House spokesman, said Monday night that President Bush was 'pleased to see the Senate moving forward on legislation.' Mr. Bush has repeatedly called for a temporary worker program that would legalize the nation's illegal immigrants, though he has said such a plan must not include amnesty."

Here's the text of Bush's speech on immigration yesterday.

'Don't Underestimate Me, Pepe'

Bush yesterday held a half-hour roundtable interview with the Mexican and Canadian press in anticipation of Thursday's trilateral discussions in Cancun.

Here's one exchange with José Carreño Figueras , also known as Pepe, from Mexico's El Universal newspaper:

"Q The question would be, though -- if you excuse me, a few months ago, or a year ago, you said that you would invest political capital in the issue of -- the immigration issue. . . .

"Yet in the last couple of weeks, there have been a lot of people in this town talking that your political capital is wasted. So --

"THE PRESIDENT: Don't underestimate me, Pepe.

"Q No, I don't. But --

"THE PRESIDENT: Okay. (Laughter.)

"Q Is this Congress underestimating you? Because --

"THE PRESIDENT: We'll see."

Blair Memo Watch

Here's Scott McClellan ducking questions about the British memo described in the New York Times yesterday.

" Q Let me ask you a more fundamental question. The President -- according to this report of this memo -- said to Prime Minister Blair that he didn't expect that there would be any sectarian violence. That's obviously proven -- he was disproven. That is, in fact, the case that there is sectarian violence. Some worry about the prospects of civil war.

"My question, though, is the President's judgments, this administration's judgments about the war that did not come to pass, that created a credibility problem with the American people with regard to how they view this war, does that not hurt the President when he now says, we need patience and we have to persevere?

" MR. McCLELLAN: First of all, you made a very long statement there, and I'm not accepting the premise of the beginning of your question that that's an accurate reflection of things. We've talked about what we anticipated and what we didn't anticipate and what we prepared for.

"And I think credibility is about doing what you say you're going to do. We did what we said we were going to do. Tyrants around the world know that we mean what we say, because we followed through on the resolution that was passed at the Security Council and held Saddam Hussein's regime to account. And he has been removed from power. The world is better off because Saddam Hussein is no longer in power."

Censure Watch

Charles Babington writes in The Washington Post: "The Senate Judiciary Committee has scheduled a Friday hearing on Sen. Russell Feingold's resolution to censure President Bush for authorizing warrantless surveillance of Americans' international phone calls and e-mails."

The issue should also get an airing this morning in a separate Judiciary Committee hearing.

Abramoff (Non) Watch

Reuters reports: "President George W. Bush expressed support on Monday for U.S. Sen. Conrad Burns, who is under pressure over his links with Jack Abramoff, a Republican lobbyist at the heart of an influence-peddling scandal.

"Speaking at a fund-raising event for Burns' re-election campaign at a Washington hotel, Bush praised the Montana lawmaker as a strong supporter on national security and tax relief."

Here's the text of Bush's remarks.

"I kind of like being on the same platform as Senator Burns because he makes me sound like Shakespeare," Bush said.

Signing Statements Watch

Charlie Savage writes in the Boston Globe: "Two senior Democratic House members yesterday demanded that President Bush withdraw his assertion that he can ignore portions of the USA Patriot Act calling on him to provide periodic reports to Congress on how new law-enforcement tactics are being used."

The Sad Lot of the White House Press Corps

Michael Learmonth writes in Variety: "White House correspondent once was considered the premier job for journalism's best and brightest -- and a stepping stone to bigger things, as people like Tom Brokaw, Dan Rather and Sam Donaldson parlayed their role into news stardom."

But no more.

"With unprecedented message discipline and a dearth of free agents willing to divulge real information, the Bush administration has brought a new level of frustration to the beat. While the heady act of walking through the White House gates to work can sustain some reporters for a career, the cloistered atmosphere can be dispiriting. . . .

" 'It's confining, both physically and intellectually,' says ABC's Terry Moran, who left the White House beat to join 'Nightline.' 'You're cooped up in a bubble all the time; they herd you like sheep. You're always focused on this one person and the administration. The president makes news by saying and doing things, so your stories are often, "The president did this today." '

"So meaningless are the daily disgorgements from the White House that [CBS News anchor Bob] Schieffer says he's contemplated sending an intern there to take notes and sending the reporters to Capitol Hill, where there are 535 members of Congress, all with their own agendas and motivations to talk."