The News and Observer from Raleigh, North Carolina • A14

BY MARK SHERMAN AND PETE YOST THE ASSOCIATED PRESS WASHINGTON The FBI, re- sponding to a Nixon administra- tion request, ran criminal back- ground checks on Senate witnesses critical of William nom- ination to the Supreme Court in 1971, newly released FBI files show. Fifteen years later, Justice De- partment officials in the Reagan administration asked the FBI to check on witnesses who were scheduled to testify in opposition to elevation from jus- tice to chief justice. just gave these names to Bolton they will testify for the Democrats and we want to know what they are going to Justice Department official Gene Hickhock told a counterpart at the FBI, according to a memo in file. The late Sen. Strom Thurmond, was chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee in 1986 when Rehnquist was nominated to be chief justice.

John Bolton, who re- signed in December as U.N. am- bassador, was an assistant attorney general under President Reagan. The disclosures were among 1,561 pages released by the bureau to The Associated Press, other news organizations and scholars in re- sponse to requests made under the Freedom of Information Act after death in September 2005. An additional 207 pages were withheld under the federal disclo- sure law, while the FBI said an en- tire section of file could not be found. The file ap- pears to have been compiled for two Sena te confirmations, at which De- mocrats were hopeful the FBI would turn up damaging ma- i a om Rehnqu i past princi pally on civil rights issues.

Alexander Charns, a Durham, N.C., lawyer who also received the file and has extensively re- searched the relationship with the court, said the new dis- closures show the two adminis- trations went to some lengths to discredit Rehnquist opponents. many ways, I guess the same old story of the political use of the Charns said. The documents also show that the FBI was aware in 1971 that Rehnquist had owned a home in Phoenix with a deed that allowed Rehnquist to sell only to whites. The covenant was not disclosed un- til his 1986 confirmation hearings, at which Rehnquist said he became aware of the clause days earlier. The newly declassified file pro- vides new details about 1981 hospital stay because of back pain and his dependence on pre- scription pain-relief medication.

The FBI investigated his de- pendence on Placidyl, which Rehnquist had taken for at least 10 years, according to a record of a 1970 medical examination. When Rehnquist checked into a hospital in 1981, doctors stopped administering the drug, causing what a hospital spokesman called a in mental The FBI file, citing one of his physicians, said Rehnquist expe- rienced withdrawal symptoms that included going to the hospi- tal lobby in his pajamas in a bid to escape. He imagined that there was a Central Intelligence Agency plot against him. Charns said that some of the censored documents provide in- triguing hints of what else Rehn- file might contain. In one memo from 1971, an FBI official wrote, persons inter- viewed during our current or 1969 investigation furnished informa- tion bearing adversely on Rehn- morals or professional in- tegrity; however The next third of the page is blacked out, under the disclosure excep- tion for national security.

would be nice to know what is still classified, three decades Charns said. Nation14A THE NEWS OBSERVERTHURSDAY, JANUARY 4, 2007 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 14A, THURSDAY, JANUARY 4, 2007 BY JAMES GORDON MEEK NEW YORK DAILY NEWS WASHINGTON President Bush has quietly claimed sweeping new powers to open mail without a warrant, the New York Daily News has learned. The president asserted his new authority when he signed a postal reform bill into law Dec. 20. Bush then issued a that declared his right to open mail under emergency conditions.

That claim is contrary to exist- ing law and contradicted the bill he had just signed, say experts who have reviewed it. move came during the winter congressional recess and a year after his secret domestic elec- tronic eavesdropping program was first revealed. It caught Capi- tol Hill by surprise. the state- ment that he may be able to cir- cumvent a basic privacy protec- tion, the new postal law continues to prohibit the government from snooping into mail with- out a said Rep. Henry Waxman, the incoming House Government Reform Com- mittee chairman, who co-spon- sored the bill.

Experts said the new powers could be easily abused and used to vacuum up large amounts of mail. signing statement claims authority to open domes- tic mail without a warrant, and that would be new and quite said Kate Martin, di- rector of the Center for National Security Studies in Washington. The Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act explicitly rein- forced protections of first-class mail from searches without a approval. Yet in his statement Bush said he will an exception, provides for opening of an item of a class of mail otherwise sealed against inspection in a man- ner consistent with the need to conduct searches in exigent Bush cited as examples the need to human life and safety against hazardous materials and the need for physical searches specifically authorized by law for foreign intelligence White House spokeswoman Emily Lawrimore denied Bush was claiming any new authority. certain circumstances such as with the proverbial ing the Constitution does not require warrants for rea- sonable she said.

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS WASHINGTON The FBI has abandoned its effort to recover government documents leaked to Jack Anderson, a longtime in- vestigative reporter who died in December 2005. The documents, which some officials said might have con- tained classified information, were among the late conf identia papers They touched off a dispute between the FBI and the fam- ily and biographer. At the heart of the dispute were concerns about government in- vestigations of reporters and whether they might violate con- stitutional protections of the press. In answers to a questionnaire from the Senate Judiciary Com- mittee, dated Nov. 30, acting As- sociate Attorney General James H.

Clinger said the FBI was not seeking any of the documents. which statute do you seek to reclaim the Jack Ander- son asked the com- mittee in its questionnaire. Answered Clinger: FBI met with the Anderson family in an effort to review the files with their consent. At this time, the FBI is not seeking to reclaim any Right to open mail claimed Bush assertion illegal, experts say FBI gives up on Jack Anderson documents SNOW TAKES BOUGHS A tree bends low as skiers ply the fresh-fallen snow in Nax, southwestern Switzerland. Heavy snowfall during the last few days ended a very dry period in these mountains.

KEYSTONE PHOTO BY OLIVIER MAIRE Nixon had FBI investigate critics of Rehnquist bid Rehnquist, nominee for Supreme Court in.