The Justice Department's Office of Professional Responsibility has reopened its investigation of the Bush administration's warrantless wiretapping program more than a year after the National Security Agency shut it down by refusing to grant security clearances to investigators.

Bush's decision soon after 9/11 to authorize the NSA to monitor people inside the United States without warrants raised concerns about the program's legality and potential for abuse after The New York Times disclosed the activity in December 2005.

Then-Attorney General Alberto Gonzales stymied the OPR probe of the program. His testimony before Congress about the spy program contradicted itself several times.

Now, less than a month after Michael Mukasey's confirmation as Mr. Gonzales' successor, the NSA has provided the security clearances necessary for OPR lawyers to ask questions about the program.

Many believed that Mr. Mukasey would continue Mr. Gonzales' practice of serving as President Bush's personal counsel rather than fulfilling the attorney general's obligations as the nation's chief law enforcement officer. Reopening the domestic spying probe gives us hope that Mr. Mukasey is determined to return the attorney general post to its rightful role.

Now we just need an opinion from Mr. Mukasey confirming that waterboarding is torture.

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