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Guest list for Monday’s White House dinner honoring Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi as provided by the White House.

President Bush and Laura Bush

Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi

Alfred A. Affinito, Order Sons of Italy in America, national fourth vice president, and Mary Theresa Affinito, daughter

Samuel A. Alito Jr., associate justice, U.S. Supreme Court, and Martha-Ann Alito

Mario Andretti, professional race car driver, and Dee Ann Andretti

Judy Ansley, deputy assistant to the president and deputy national security adviser for regional affairs, National Security Council, and Stephen Ansley

Bruno Archi, diplomatic adviser, Italian Republic

Lawrence Auriana, chairman, Columbus Citizens Foundation, and Irene Auriana

Sen. John Barrasso, R-Wyo., and Bobbi Barrasso

Lidia Bastianich, restaurateur and hostess of Lidia’s Italy, and Mario Piccozzi

Joshua Bolten, assistant to the president and chief of staff, and Dede McClure

Paolo Bonaiuti, undersecretary of state, Italian Republic

Nancy G. Brinker, chief of protocol, State Department, and Gilchrist Berg, president and founder, Water Street Capital Inc.

Elliott Broidy, chairman and CEO, Broidy Capital Management Financial, and Robin Broidy

David Cappiello, Connecticut state senator, and Christine Cappiello

Sebastiano Cardi, deputy chief of mission, embassy of the Italian Republic, and Karoline Seitz Cardi

Giovanni Castellaneta, U.S. ambassador of the Italian Republic, and Lila Castellaneta

Paul Cellucci, special counsel, McCarter & English LLP, and Jan Cellucci

Vincent Cerrato, executive vice president, football operations, Washington Redskins, and Dr. Rebecca Cerrato

Dr. Adele Chatfield-Taylor, president, American Academy in Rome

Elizabeth L. Cheney, daughter of Vice President Dick Cheney

Mary Cheney, daughter of Vice President Dick Cheney, and Heather Poe

Vice President Dick Cheney and Lynne V. Cheney

Michael Chertoff, secretary of homeland security, and Meryl Chertoff

Maria Cino, president and CEO, Republican National Convention, and Kevin Caulfield

Jerry Colangelo, CEO, Phoenix Suns, and Joan Colangelo

Bruce M. Cole, chairman, National Endowment for the Humanities, and Martha McGeary Snider

Dr. John J. DeGioia, president, Georgetown University, and Theresa DeGioia

Joe Del Raso, partner, Pepper Hamilton, and Anne Del Raso

Sen. Mike Enzi, R-Wyo., and Diana Enzi

Umberto Fedeli, president and CEO, The Fedeli Group, and Mary Ellen Fedeli

Luca Ferrari, minister counselor for public affairs, embassy of the Italian Republic, and Mariachiara Pastore Ferrari

Eugenio Ficorilli, chief of protocol, Italian Republic

Tony Fratto, deputy assistant to the president and deputy press secretary, office of the press secretary, and Judith Fratto

Daniel Fried, assistant secretary for European affairs, State Department

Micol Galliani, Italian Republic

Anthony E. Gioia, chairman, Cello-Pack Corp., and Donna Gioia

Dana Gioia, chairman, National Endowment for the Arts, and Mary Gioia

Rudolph W. Giuliani, chairman and CEO, Giuliani Partners, and Judith Giuliani

Pier Francesco Guarguaglini, president and CEO, Finmeccanica

Stephen J. Hadley, assistant to the president for national security affairs, National Security Council, and Ann Hadley

Kenneth G. Langone, president and CEO, Invemed Associates LLC, and Elaine Langone

Frederic V. Malek, chairman, Thayer Capital Partners, and Marlene Malek

Corrado Manuali, partner, Kranjac Manuali and Viskovic LLP

Joseph Maselli, founder and president emeritus, American Italian Federation of Louisiana, and Frank Maselli, son

Anita Bevacqua McBride, assistant to the president and chief of staff to the first lady, and Timothy J. McBride

Susan Molinari, president and CEO, The Washington Group, and Bill Paxon, senior adviser, Akin, Gump, Strauss, Hauer and Feld LLP

Michael Mukasey, attorney general, Justice Department, and Susan Mukasey

Adm. Michael G. Mullen, chairman, Joint Chiefs of Staff, and Deborah Mullen

Robert James Nicholson, senior counsel, Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck, and Suzanne Nicholson

Francesco Nuschese, president, Georgetown Entertainment Group and Joseph Robert, Jr.

Gen. Peter Pace, USMC, retired, and Lynne Pace

Wendy Paulson, wife of Treasury Secretary Henry M. Paulson

Nancy Pelosi, Speaker of the House, and Paul Pelosi.

Dana Perino, White House press secretary, and Leo Perino, father

Dr. Giovanni Perissinotto, CEO, Generali Insurance and wife Allessandra Brizzi

Francesco Profumo, rector, Politecnico de Torino, and Anna Maria Profumo

Anne-Imelda Radice, director, Institute of Museum and Library Services and Katherine Fernstrom

George Randazzo, founder and president, National Italian American Sports Hall of Fame, and Linda Randazzo

Mary Lou Retton-Kelley, Olympic gymnast, and Shannon Kelley

Condoleezza Rice, Secretary of State and Gene A. Washington, Director of Football Operations, National Football League

Anthony Rizzo, president, Rizzo Electric and Joan Rizzo

Mr. Larry Ruvo, senior managing director, Southern Wine & Sprits of Nevada, and Nicole Ruvo

Alicia Sacramone, Olympic gymnast and Jonathan Sacramone, brother

John Salamone, national executive director & chief administrative officer, National Italian American Foundation and Alice Kathleen Salamone

Archbishop Pietro Sambi, Papal Nuncio to the United States

Antonin Scalia, associate justice, United States Supreme Court, and Maureen Scalia

Susan Schwab, United States Trade Representative, and Teresa Marshall, sister

Peter Secchia, chairman emeritus, Universal Forest Products, Inc., and Joan Secchia

Mel Sembler, chairman, The Sembler Company and Betty Sembler

Ronald P. Spogli, United States Ambassador to the Italian Republic and Georgia Spogli

Valentino Valentini, chief of the Office of the Prime Minister, Italian Republic

Frankie Valli, musician and Francesco Valli, son

Vincent Viola, senior strategic advisor, New York Mercantile Exchange, Inc. and Teresa Viola

Gianni Zonin, president, Zonin Winery and Silvana Zonin

Brig. Gen. Mirco Zuliani, defense attache, Embassy of the Italian Republic, and Carla Paris Zuliani

President Bush and British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, two politicians near the nadir of their popularity, are getting together to discuss the financial problems that have both their economies reeling.

In announcing Friday’s visit, Brown’s office said the two will discuss the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan as well, but the tribulations of global economic instability will be at the top of their agenda.

Brown said Thursday one purpose of the White House meeting was for him to convey his support for Bush’s $700 billion economic bailout of the U.S. financial markets.

The prime minister, at the United Nations in New York, said he hoped his testimony for the rescue package would help get it through Congress before members leave next week to campaign for re-election.

“We are doing everything in our power to ensure that there is stability, and that is stability for people’s jobs, for people’s mortgages, for people’s standards of living,” Brown said in New York, where he held talks on Wall Street after addressing the U.N. General Assembly.

Neither Bush nor Brown is flush with political capital as they meet.

Bush is in his last four months in office. The plight of the economy, piled atop national antagonism toward the Iraq war and other perceived presidential shortcomings, has his popularity rating around 30 percent.

That is off his lows of a few months ago but remains among the lowest of any president since modern polling techniques were introduced in the 1940s.

Brown spent 10 years as the treasury chief in the Cabinet of his predecessor, Tony Blair, and has built a reputation with the British public as a dour micromanager. His position at the top of Britain’s economy won him praise in boom times, but the collapse of Britain’s housing market and increased inflation have cost him dearly.

His popularity had sunk so low that members of his own Labour Party openly challenged his leadership early this month, fanning rumors that Brown could be removed before the next general election, due in less than two years.

However, a well-received speech before the Labour’s annual conference Tuesday has taken some of the pressure off, and Brown hopes that a visible role in tackling the world’s economic woes will give him an opportunity to bring some of the shine back to his financial credentials.

Brown replaced Blair, Bush’s chief ally in Iraq, last June.

This fall, many members of Congress will see a major source of campaign contributions disappear, possibly never to return.

Political action committees affiliated with mortgage giants Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae are now banned from engaging in lobbying activities, including making donations. They were ordered to cease when the Bush administration engineered a government takeover of the quasi-governmental companies and put them under a conservatorship in an effort to help reverse a housing and credit crisis.

Whether the PACS come back in some form is likely to depend on the next Congress, says Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass., who, as chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, says he will be open minded about it.

PACS, committees formed by business, labor, or other special-interest groups, raise money from their members or employees and make contributions to the campaigns of political candidates whom they support.

Both men seeking the presidency, Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., and Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., agree on the need to monitor the federal takeover of the two mortgage concerns, but hold different views on what the PACS’ ultimate fate should be.

Obama would make it more difficult for Freddie and Fannie to have PACS, saying he wants to reduce the influence of money over the political process. Obama’s presidential campaign has raised more private money than any in history, but he doesn’t accept PAC dollars. He opposes allowing Fannie and Freddie to be returned as profit-making enterprises whose possible losses are guaranteed by the government.

McCain favors taking both companies fully private and letting them determine whether they want PACS.

Ultimately, it may not matter what the next president thinks about the PACS. Neither McCain nor Obama is likely to veto a bill over whether it allows for PACS. And Congress will likely be under pressure to keep the campaign contribution spigot from those PACS turned off.

That pressure is likely to come from other parts of the finance industry, says Jonathan Koppell, a professor of political science at Yale University’s School of Management. He noted that Fannie and Freddie’s competitors have long believed the two had an unfair advantage that stemmed from cozy relations with Capitol Hill.

A spokesman for the American Bankers Association declined comment.

Since 2003, Democrats and Republicans have collected $2.3 million from the two PACs. That could sway some lawmakers to insist that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac be reshaped as purely private businesses, which would allow them to revive their PACs.

The contributions are part of a lobbying arsenal that has invested $80 million over the past five years to win hearts and minds in the capital. Fannie and Freddie have spent big on hiring former White House officials and lawmakers. Some members of Congress have received tens of thousands of dollars from the PACS, especially those on committees with jurisdiction over the companies, including Frank.

“They had huge armies of lobbyists that were tripping over each other, so they developed friends on both sides of the aisle over the years,” said Peter Fitzgerald, a Virginia banker and former Republican senator from Illinois. “Republicans got very tight with them over the years and they got very powerful.”

Stephen Ellis, vice president of Taxpayers for Common Sense, a Washington-based watchdog group, said the PACs’ campaign cash to Congress has helped insulate Fannie and Freddie from oversight.

“The fundamental lack of rigorous accounting and adult supervision is one of the major reasons that taxpayers have had to take over these companies that are drowning in red ink,” Ellis said.

The companies hold or guarantee some $5 trillion in outstanding mortgages, more than half the nation’s total. It is unclear, experts say, what the taxpayers’ responsibility will become. The future of the PACs may depend on how Fannie and Freddie are changed and whether they continue the affordable housing component that Congress has been required.

“If taxpayers continue to have any degree of involvement with these companies they should not be allowed to lavish campaign cash on their elected representatives,” Ellis said. “Fannie and Freddie benefited from their close association with the federal government. They can’t have it both ways again.”

Fully privatized, the companies could have PACS, because corporations have the right to have them as a matter of free speech. On the other hand, the creation of fully governmental replacements would eliminate the possibility of PACS, as government agencies cannot lobby.

“I hope next year we will have a long and serious set of very inclusive discussions” on the issue,” said Frank. “I don’t want to prejudge that.”

President Bush said Wednesday that the attack on the U.S. embassy in the capital of Yemen was a reminder that the United States remains “at war” with ideological extremists.

Attackers armed with automatic weapons, rocket-propelled grenades and at least one suicide car bomb assaulted the U.S. embassy. Sixteen people were killed, including six assailants, officials said.

“This attack is a reminder that we are at war with extremists who will murder innocent people to achieve their ideological objectives,” Bush said after a meeting with Gen. David Petraeus, who handed command over the Multi-National Force in Iraq to Gen. Ray Odierno this week.

“One objective of these extremists is to kill, to try to cause the United States to lose our nerve and to withdraw from regions of the world,” Bush said.

It was the deadliest attack on the compound in Yemen that has been targeted four times in recent years by bombings, mortars and shootings. Yemen, the ancestral homeland of Osama bin Laden, has struggled to put down al-Qaida-linked Islamic militants, often to the frustration of U.S. counterterrorism officials.

“Our message is that we want to help governments survive the extremists,” Bush said. “We want people to lead normal life. We want mothers to be able to raise their sons and daughters in a peaceful environment so they can realize the hopes and dreams of a better world.”

The United States said the attack was a failed attempt to breach the embassy compound’s walls.

State Department spokesman Sean McCormack told reporters that the embassy’s security upgrades, combined with the response of security officials, stopped the attackers. He said one U.S. embassy guard from Yemen was killed, along with several Yemeni security officials.

The assault bears “all the hallmarks of an al-Qaida attack,” McCormack said.

Bush spoke about the attack during a meeting thanking Petraeus for his service.

In the polarizing war in Iraq, Petraeus has emerged as a respected figure among partisans from all corners.

His strategy for countering the Iraq insurgency is credited by many with rescuing the country from all-out civil war. He presided over Bush’s buildup of troops in Iraq last year, an unpopular move that has since been seen as helping to stabilize the country, although political progress remains slow.

Bush said Petraeus was asked to do a very difficult job, and he did it with “distinction and honor.”

Petraeus’ next assignment, which begins in late October, is even more expansive. As commander of Central Command, based in Tampa, Fla., he will oversee U.S. military involvement across the Middle East, including Iraq, as well as Afghanistan, Pakistan and other Central Asian nations.

“It’s great to be home, sir,” Petraeus told the president.

Democrats’ stance against offshore drilling has shifted more, with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi signaling on Saturday her willingness to consider opening up more coastal areas to oil and gas exploration.

In her party’s weekly radio address, Pelosi said opening portions of the Outer Continental Shelf for drilling would be a part of energy legislation that House Democrats intend to put forward in the coming weeks to address oil dependence and high gasoline prices.

Lawmakers will be able to “consider opening portions of the Outer Continental Shelf for drilling, with appropriate safeguards, and without taxpayer subsidies to Big Oil,” said Pelosi, D-Calif.

Just weeks ago Pelosi seemed resolved to block any votes to allow offshore drilling, in part because Californians have opposed drilling off their coasts since an oil spill off Santa Barbara in 1969. New oil drilling is only allowed now in federal waters in the western Gulf of Mexico and off Alaska.

Pelosi’s radio remarks were the latest to hint that the energy debate in Congress is still evolving, and that Democrats are budging on the issue.

Congress left for the August recess deadlocked over how to address $4-a-gallon gasoline. Democratic proposals to tap the nation’s petroleum reserve, curb oil speculation and force oil companies to drill on already leased federal lands were blocked by Republicans trying to force votes on offshore drilling.

Yet any vote on drilling is likely to force the Republicans’ hand, since it will likely be packaged with unpopular proposals to tap the petroleum reserve and recoup unpaid royalties from the late 1990s to pay for renewable energy projects.

“This comprehensive Democratic approach will ensure energy independence which is essential to our national security, will create millions of good paying jobs here at home in a new green economy, and will take major steps forward in addressing the global climate crisis,” said Pelosi, who criticized Republicans’ “drill only” plan.

Republican leaders called Pelosi’s proposal a ruse.

She “is deliberately misrepresenting the facts about our plan in order to shift attention away from the Democrats’ shameful record,” said House Republican leader John Boehner of Ohio. “Her new effort appears to be just another flawed plan that will do little to lower gas prices.” Boehner and more than 100 House Republicans refused to depart for the summer recess in protest of Democrats’ refusal to have a vote on their proposals.

The pressure to expand offshore drilling intensified last month when President Bush lifted an executive prohibition on drilling for oil and gas on the Outer Continental Shelf. A congressional ban remains in place.

Polls have shown that voters have grown more supportive of more domestic oil production as fuel prices have climbed.

urns out Democratic primary loser Hillary Rodham Clinton will get time to shine at the party’s national convention after all — and quite a bit of it. Democrats officially will choose Barack Obama to run against Republican John McCain this fall.

But in an emblematic move meant to heal divisive primary wounds, the vanquished Clinton name also will be placed in nomination alongside his during the traditional state-by-state delegation roll call vote at the Democratic National Convention in Denver.

And, she gets her own plum speaking slot.

So does her husband, former President Bill Clinton.

All that high-profile Clinton action, spread over at least half of the convention’s four prime-time speaking nights, ensures an enormous presence for the couple who have been national fixtures in the Democratic Party since 1992 — and whose latest White House bid, hers, split the party into for-them or against-them camps.

Among the risks: past leaders of the party overshadowing the current standard-bearer.

In fact, the party has a history of other Democrats showing-up the guest of honor.

The keynote speaker four years ago — Obama — seemed to get more love and better reviews during the 2004 convention in Boston than hometown nominee John Kerry, who selected the up-and-comer to speak. Jesse Jackson stole Democratic nominee Michael Dukakis‘ show in Atlanta in 1988, and Ted Kennedy’s “dream will never die” speech brought down New York’s Madison Square Garden during Jimmy Carter’s 1980 soiree.

To guard against that, Obama’s keynote speaker — Mark Warner of Virginia — will deliver his address the same day Clinton does — Aug. 26 — while the ex-president shares the next day — Aug. 27 — with the as-yet-named vice presidential running mate. On the final convention night, Aug. 28, Obama will accept the 2008 Democratic presidential nomination before a much bigger crowd at a separate venue.

Historically, the roll call has occurred on the convention’s third night. That’s still likely, although Democrats say the mechanics of how the vote will play out still are being determined. When it occurs, Clinton — herself a superdelegate who gets a vote — is expected to release her delegates to Obama, announce her support for him and ask her backers to do the same.

Fierce rivals then but wary allies now, Obama and Clinton agreed to put both of their names into nomination after weeks of negotiations. They made the announcement Thursday in a collegial joint statement that noted that some 35 million people participated in the primary and that both wanted to “honor and celebrate these voices and votes.”

“I am convinced that honoring Sen. Clinton’s historic campaign in this way will help us celebrate this defining moment in our history and bring the party together in a strong united fashion,” said Obama, an Illinois senator.

Added Clinton, D-N.Y.: “With every voice heard and the party strongly united, we will elect Sen. Obama president of the United States and put our nation on the path to peace and prosperity once again.”

The symbolic move was intended to help the Democratic Party come together after a bruising primary and acknowledge the former first lady’s groundbreaking presidential run. She was the first woman to compete in all the Democratic Party primaries, though she fell short of becoming the first to achieve a major party nomination for the White House. Obama finished the race with a 364-delegate lead over Clinton, according to an Associated Press tally.

“Both sides have something the other wants,” said former New York Gov. Mario Cuomo, a Democrat who had previously urged Obama and Clinton to unite and run on the same ticket. “He needs her support.”

Of the Clintons, Doug Muzzio, a professor of politics at Baruch College in New York, said: “In a sense, they’ve got Obama hostage and are exacting their ransom” with their convention involvement.

Clinton is ever mindful of her legacy and surely wants her accomplishment noted. She also has been trying to raise money to pay off roughly $13 million in campaign debts, and she has said that Obama could help her further. She also may be positioning herself for a reprise run; a strong national performance could help her repair some of her own political damage from the bare-knuckled primary.

Obama, for his part, no doubt wants a rancor-free convention. He also needs to mollify still-disgruntled Clinton backers, including working-class whites who are skeptical of him and women who are angry that their trailblazing candidate failed. He needs their support to beat McCain. While polls show that Obama has won over most of the Clinton faithful, some simply don’t like Obama or still feel Clinton was treated unfairly during the primaries.

His critics have indicated they would make their voices heard during the party’s Denver party in less than two weeks. One group intends to paper the city with fliers, promote a video detailing what they contend were irregularities in the nominating process and unleash bloggers to give their take on the proceedings. Others, like the pro-Clinton PUMAPAC, had called for such a roll call vote.

“I’m very pleased and I’m somewhat surprised,” said Darragh Murphy, the group’s executive director. “In my view, she’s sticking up for her delegates, and she’s going to take a lot of heat for this.” Sam Arora, a spokesman for the now-dormant Vote Both said of Obama: “He is giving former Clinton supporters more and more reasons to support him.”

Republican presidential candidate John McCain says Russia’s invasion of Georgia requires a complete reexamination of U.S. relations with the Moscow government.

McCain has told reporters in Michigan that he was pleased the United States canceled a planned joint military operation with Russia. But he added that the U.S. will now need to review the full range of its relations with Russia.

McCain says there should be heightened security arrangements for Ukraine, the Baltic states and Poland. But he rules out military action against Russia or a return to the Cold War.

Russia was blasted diplomatically Wednesday as President Bush said there were reports of ongoing Russian military operations in Georgia.

U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Russian military action in Georgia “must stop and must stop now.”

Georgia and Russia accused each other of violating the cease-fire deal agreed Tuesday to end fighting over the breakaway South Ossetia province.

Bush said he was told the Russian military had blocked Georgia’s major east-west highway and had soldiers at the main port at Poti, and there were reports that some ships had been attacked.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said that there were no Russian troops in Poti but that there were soldiers on the outskirts of Gori and Senaki, to the west, according to the Russian news agency Interfax. Senaki is south of another separatist province, Abkhazia.

“They are staying there to neutralize the large arsenal of weapons and other military hardware in the areas of Gori and Senaki. These arsenals remain unguarded. Apparently those who guarded them fled,” Lavrov said.

He added that Russia’s operations are “aimed at ensuring the peace-enforcement operation in respect to the Georgian side, which violates all of its obligations,” and his office denied that Russia had violated the cease-fire.

International agreements signed in the early 1990s allow Russian peacekeepers to maintain a presence in South Ossetia and Abkhazia.

Bush said he was sending Rice to France and Georgia to discuss the violence over disputed provinces within Georgia’s borders and to express “America’s unwavering support” to the Georgian government.

The American Bar Association is calling on the next president and Senate to reduce partisan tensions in federal judicial nominations.

The incoming president of the lawyers’ group, H. Thomas Wells Jr. of Birmingham, Ala., said Sunday that he also is enlisting the help of retired Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor to study threats to fair and impartial state courts.

At the federal level, the White House should create a commission of Democrats and Republicans to recommend nominees for federal appeals courts and the two senators from each state should establish similar panels to evaluate and recommend federal trial judges, the ABA says in a resolution inspired by Wells. The proposal is certain to be adopted at the group’s annual meeting in New York.

The bipartisan panels would help “avoid the times when there have been really rancorous debates in the confirmation process,” Wells said in an interview with The Associated Press.

Nominations from Florida and other states that now use such commissions, Wells said, “almost never have bitter confirmation fights.”

Wells said that by acting ahead of this year’s election, the ABA — often criticized by Republicans for tilting toward the Democrats — will avoid being seen as favoring one party. He said he plans to write to Democrat Barack Obama, Republican John McCain and members of the Senate to urge them to adopt the commission approach.

In recent years, individual senators in both parties have blocked judicial nominees from a vote by the full Senate. Democrats filibustered several of President Bush’s nominees when they controlled the Senate during his first term.

Bush also has failed to consult senators on some of his choices. In one instance, his nominee for an appeals court slot from Virginia was not among the recommendations of the state’s senators, Republican John Warner and Democrat Jim Webb.

The nomination has since been withdrawn and Bush has nominated two other Virginians to fill vacancies on the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals who were among those recommended by the senators. One, former state Supreme Court Justice G. Steven Agee, was unanimously confirmed. The nomination of U.S. District Court Judge Glen Conrad is pending.

At the state level, Wells said his concern was sparked by recent expensive, and in some cases ugly, campaigns and some state legislatures’ refusal to provide enough money for state courts.

O’Connor has spoken out frequently in defense of judicial independence and said judges who must run in partisan elections risk being compromised by the growing amount of campaign cash they must raise.

She will head up a May 2009 summit in Charlotte, N.C., that will explore these issues, Wells said.

In April, a little-known county judge narrowly defeated a Wisconsin Supreme Court justice with a law-and-order message and a barrage of third-party ads in a race that will go down as one of the state’s nastiest.

Liberal and conservative interest groups spent millions of dollars on negative attack ads that blanketed the state’s airwaves for weeks.

The ABA also is part of a push to get the U.S. Supreme Court to take up a case from West Virginia, in which a state high court justice refused to step aside from ruling on a $76.3 million dispute involving a key booster of his 2004 election campaign.

Three months after the deadly anthrax mailings, the commander of the nation’s top military biodefense lab declared that Army scientists there lacked the expertise to produce the bacteria used in the attacks.

Now, the post is confronting what one called the “devastating” claim that one of their own killed five people and rattled the nation just weeks after the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks.

The Justice Department’s assertion that the anthrax attacks were carried out solely by Bruce Ivins, a veteran microbiologist and anthrax vaccine expert at Fort Detrick who killed himself last week, has tarnished the reputation of the secret Army facility located here and delivered a sharp blow to its expansion plans.

The leader of a citizens group critical of Fort Detrick’s growth proposal said evidence the government released this week about Ivins’ long-standing psychological problems and his likely role in the 2001 anthrax attacks underscores claims that the Army has not thoroughly assessed the risk of threats from within the lab.

The Army insists the security practices and worker-screening program at the U.S. Army Medical Institute of Infectious Diseases, or USAMRIID, are “designed to ensure that each person who has access to sensitive materials meets the highest standards of reliability.”

Ivins, 62, who spent three decades at the facility, committed suicide as federal authorities were preparing to charge him with mailing the anthrax-laced letters that killed five people and sickened 17 others in the fall of 2001. His lawyer contends the Justice Department hasn’t proven Ivins was the killer.

Ivins’ colleague Dr. W. Russell Byrne, who headed USAMRIID’s bacteriology division from late 1998 to early 2000, said Thursday the case was “incredibly damaging” to biodefense work.

“This is devastating, not only to USAMRIID, but pretty much all government research,” Byrne said. “The implication is that USAMRIID can’t be trusted to police itself.” He stressed that that was not his opinion.

Byrne said the disclosures about Ivins also have likely hurt the Army’s billion-dollar plan to replace USAMRIID’s 38-year-old main building and build a larger laboratory complex as part of a proposed interagency biodefense campus at Fort Detrick.

Beth Willis of Frederick Citizens for Bio-Lab Safety said the Ivins case proves that a closer examination of the lab expansion plan is warranted. The group is seeking a National Academy of Sciences review of the Army’s environmental impact statement for the project, contending, among other things, that it doesn’t adequately assess the risk of a disgruntled worker exposing the public to deadly germs.

“As these labs expand and there are more workers, less experienced workers, the possibility of internal sabotage and people with nefarious intent simply grows,” Willis said.

Army officials have said the environmental assessment was thorough.

The government’s allegations against Ivins rebut the position long held by Fort Detrick leaders that no one from the lab could have sent the letters. In December 2001, then-Fort Detrick commander Maj. Gen. John S. Parker scorned suggestions that USAMRIID might be involved.

“We don’t have that capability here nor do we have the scientists who know how to do that,” Parker said at the time. “I can’t give credibility to others who say they would have had to have been in our program.”

Byrne said Thursday that he still wasn’t convinced Ivins did it, and that Fort Detrick’s biodefense program is sound.

“They are professionals and they are Americans,” he said. “They believed in this country and they were trusted for a long, long time.”

Microbiologist John W. Ezzell, an anthrax expert who retired from USAMRIID in 2006, said the Ivins case “certainly has not helped” Fort Detrick. But he added that without the lab’s expertise in analyzing some of the letters, the investigation would have been more difficult — and more hazardous.

“It may look bad for USAMRIID because of this case,” Ezzell said, “but at the same time, USAMRIID was at the forefont of saving a lot of lives.”