Justices, 5-3, Broadly Reject Bush Plan to Try Detainees  —  WASHINGTON, June 29 — The Supreme Court on Thursday repudiated the Bush administration's plan to put Guantánamo detainees on trial before military commissions, ruling broadly that the commissions were unauthorized by federal statute and violated international law.

Report: Mubarak demands Hamas be expelled from Syria  —  Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak demanded from his Syrian counterpart Bashar Assad to deport the Syrian-based Hamas leadership unless it agrees to release kidnapped IDF soldier Cpl. Gilad Shalit, Palestinian sources said on Friday.

House Assails Media Report on Tracking of Finances  —  WASHINGTON, June 29 — The House of Representatives on Thursday condemned the recent disclosure of a classified program to track financial transactions and called on the media to cooperate in keeping such efforts secret.

Justices revise part of Texas redistricting  —  Court also rules state legislators may draw new maps as often as they like … WASHINGTON - A fractured Supreme Court ruled Wednesday that states are free to redraw congressional districts whenever they want, largely blessing Tom DeLay's …

A Governing Philosophy Rebuffed  —  Ruling Emphasizes Constitutional Boundaries  —  For five years, President Bush waged war as he saw fit.  If intelligence officers needed to eavesdrop on overseas telephone calls without warrants, he authorized it.  If the military wanted to hold terrorism suspects without trial, he let it.

Bin Laden hails slain al-Zarqawi as 'lion'  —  CAIRO, Egypt - Osama bin Laden defended attacks by Abu Musab al-Zarqawi against civilians in Iraq, purportedly saying in a taped Web message Friday that the slain al-Qaida in Iraq leader was acting under orders to kill anyone who backs American forces.

Lawmakers: NSA database incomplete  —  WASHINGTON — Members of the House and Senate intelligence committees confirm that the National Security Agency has compiled a massive database of domestic phone call records.  But some lawmakers also say that cooperation by the nation's telecommunication companies …

Comeback talk creates Lott buzz  —  The prospect of former Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott (R-Miss.) returning to leadership next year is creating more and more buzz on and off Capitol Hill, Republican insiders say.  —  The higher volume of talk has been fueled partly by his former aides …

Hateful chatter behind the veil  —  Key suspects' wives held radical views, Web postings reveal  —  MISSISSAUGA — When it came time to write up the premarital agreement between Zakaria Amara and Nada Farooq, Ms. Farooq briefly considered adding a clause that would allow her to ask for a divorce.

THE HIDDEN POWER  —  On December 18th, Colin Powell, the former Secretary of State, joined other prominent Washington figures at FedEx Field, the Redskins' stadium, in a skybox belonging to the team's owner.  During the game, between the Redskins and the Dallas Cowboys …

Fit and Unfit to Print  —  What are the obligations of the press in wartime? … So wrote the great legal scholar, Alexander Bickel, about the duties of the press in his 1975 collection of essays "The Morality of Consent."  We like to re-read Bickel to get our Constitutional bearings …

Won't You Please Come To [Chicago] New Haven....  The dogs and I have arrived safely in Connecticut, neatly timed to coincide with the release of Ned Lamont's new ad, Lieberman's vow to run as an independent in the general election and John Murtha's refusal to support Holy Joe unless he stops banging the war drums.