The National Journal's Murray Waas, who broke the Bush-quashes-Justice-investigation story, quoted in TPMmuckraker:

"It's surprising the story hasn't gotten greater play. It's unprecedented for the President of the United States to himself stymie a Justice Department investigation. And it's obscure for a president to make a decision about who should get security clearances.

"When FBI agents and Justice prosecutors needed security clearances to investigate The New York Times and those who leaked the NSA story to its reporters, the clearances were granted almost immediately. The head of OPR pointed that out in a memo to the deputy attorney general.

"The OPR head pointed out that private citizens sitting on a presidential commission were also granted those clearances. They are a far greater security risk than career DoJ officials, he said. . .

"Historians will tell you that it's unprecedented for a president of the United States to make the personal decision to halt an investigation of his own attorney general and his own attorneys, based on his personal decision. Earlier, the president played no role in approving clearances for the other people who were familiar with the program."

Shades of Nixon...if Nixon had displayed even more contempt for the Constitution.