Filing and Press Conference: 10am, Monday, May 18, 2009, Board of Professional Responsibility District of Columbia Court of Appeals 515 5th Street NW, Building A, Suite 117 Washington, DC 20001 WASHINGTON, May 18 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- On Monday, May 18, 2009, a broad coalition of organizations dedicated to accountable government, and representing over one million members, filed disciplinary complaints with state bar licensing boards against twelve attorneys who advocated the torture of detainees during the Bush Administration.

By DAN EGGEN By Dan Eggen and Josh White The Washington Post WASHINGTON The Justice Department sent a legal memo to the Pentagon in 2003 asserting that federal laws prohibiting assault, maiming and other crimes did not apply to military interrogators who questioned al- Qaida captives because the president's ultimate authority as commander in chief overrode such statutes.

A now defunct 81-page 2003 memo shows the Justice Department gave Pentagon officials justification to skirt laws banning harsh interrogation tactics.

By ANNE FLAHERTY, THE ASSOCIATED PRESS WASHINGTON The new Democratic-led Congress is on a collision course with the White House over how far lawmakers can or should go to stop the war in Iraq, a dispute that could test the bounds of the Constitution.

By Anne Plummer Flaherty Associated Press WASHINGTON -- A Republican deal on terrorism trials and interrogations would give President Bush wide latitude to interpret standards for prisoner treatment, even though it doesn't include a provision he wanted on the Geneva Conventions.