Holder releases Bush-era anti-terrorism memos

Attorney General Eric Holder on Monday released a legal document written about a month after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks in which the Bush administration claimed the military could search and seize terrorism suspects in the United States without warrants.

It claimed constitutional protections against unlawful search and seizure would not apply to terror suspects on American soil so long as the activity was authorized by the president or another high official.

The memo was among nine released by Holder, who said he plans to make future memos and opinions from the Justice Department's Office of Legal Counsel available when possible while still protecting national security information. Another memo showed that within two weeks of Sept. 11, the administration was contemplating ways to use wiretaps without getting warrants.

Senate Judiciary Chairman Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., said the memoranda and opinions of the Bush era remain of great concern. His committee will hold a hearing on Wednesday to explore whether an independent commission should be created to investigate allegations of wrongdoing in intelligence and national security activities during those eight years.

Among the documents that Holder released were several that House Judiciary Comittee Chairman John Conyers, D-Mich., and Constitution, Civil Rights and Civil Liberties Subcommittee Chairman Jerrold Nadler, D-N.Y., requested in April.