Dick Cheney in Higher Loyalty, by James Comey

On Government Reform: OpEd: Obstruction of justice often used for convenient

On Homeland Security: OpEd: Frustrated when definitions of torture changed

I understood why people like by Vice President Cheney were frustrated when the Department of Justice changed its legal opinions. But much of the responsibility for the original flawed legal work could be laid at the feet of policymakers like the vice president--powerful leaders who were absolutely certain what needed to be done and who demanded quick answers from a tiny group of lawyers. Their actions guaranteed the very problem we were forced to deal with down the road.

On Homeland Security: OpEd: Pressured DOJ to declare NSA domestic spying legal

COMEY: I was the #2 person at the Justice Department then, the deputy attorney general. And we were in a dispute with the White House about whether there was a lawful basis for surveillance activities that the president had authorized the NSA to engage in [domestically]. We had concluded--and I agreed--that there wasn't a lawful basis for a big part of these activities. Vice President Cheney presided at a meeting to pressure me to change my view. He looked me in the eye and said, "Thousands of people are going to die because of what you're doing." What he meant was, "Because you are making us stop this surveillance program." I responded, "I have to say what we find lawful. So I can't change my view." I felt like I was going to be crushed like a grape, frankly. But in a way, there was no other way I could act. The law was clear.