Congress once again extended expiring provisions of the Patriot Act with very little debate. The American people deserve to hear a real debate about what government surveillance programs are really doing in their name. Only then can we make an informed, responsible decision about whether the claimed security benefits of those programs justify their costs.

The government must actually obtain a conviction before imposing a punishment or seeking automatic deportation premised on that conviction. It is a shocking feature of U.S. immigration law that such an obvious-seeming point needed any clarification. . . .

Dawn Johnsen, eminently qualified to head the Justice Department's Office of Legal Counsel, withdrew her bid for the post after the Senate dallied in voting on her nomination for over a year. She should have been confirmed.

Government transparency is vital to a free and well-functioning democracy, and it is particularly so in the area of national security....