Crossposted to The Leiter Reports and For the Record

Was it legal for Bush to authorize Libby to leak bits of the Iraq National Intelligence Estimate? Here's an argument that it was: (1) Bush declassified the relevant bits of the NIE; (2) Bush did so legally; and since there's nothing illegal about authorizing someone to leak legally declassified information, Bush's act was legal.

But neither (1) nor (2) stands up to examination.