Bush's Shrinking Safety Zone

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From ABC News of 1 Jun 2006:

DOJ Officials Will Testify Says Judge
In a new twist, a federal judge in Washington today ordered that senior DOJ officials, including Associate AG Robert McCallum, be deposed in a lawsuit seeking information about why the department drastically reduced the amount of damages it was seeking in a suit against the big tobacco companies.

Last June, following a lengthy trial, DOJ officials announced they were cutting the amount of damages they were seeking from tobacco companies, from $130 billion to $14 billion.

That decision prompted the lead attorney in the government's case, Sharon Eubanks, to quit saying that Bush political appointees undercut the government's case against big tobacco.