WASHINGTON — Senate Democrats blistered Attorney General Alberto Gonzales Monday with debate on a symbolic "no-confidence" resolution, but President Bush and fellow Republicans shrugged it all off as a waste of time.

No one predicted that the resolution would survive its test vote late in the day. But neither did Republicans or Democrats rush to defend Bush's longtime friend after he alienated even the White House's staunchest allies on a host of controversies — from the bungled firings of eight federal prosecutors to the handling of wiretapping authority under the USA Patriot Act.

Many Republican votes against the symbolic resolution apparently sprang from a fear of political retribution, not support of Gonzales.

"There is no confidence in the attorney general on this side of the aisle," said Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania, the senior Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee, announcing he would vote for the no-confidence resolution.

Republicans complained that the Democratic resolution was an effort to pressure Bush into firing Gonzales — an unlikely prospect in light of Bush's strong continued support.

COURT RULES IN FAVOR OF 'ENEMY COMBATANT'

RICHMOND, Va. — The Bush administration cannot use new anti-terrorism laws to keep U.S. residents locked up indefinitely without charging them, a divided federal appeals court said Monday.

The ruling was a harsh rebuke of one of the central tools the administration believes it has to combat terror.

"To sanction such presidential authority to order the military to seize and indefinitely detain civilians, even if the President calls them 'enemy combatants,' would have disastrous consequences for the constitution — and the country," the court panel said.

In the 2-1 decision, the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals panel found that the federal Military Commissions Act doesn't strip Ali al-Marri, a legal U.S. resident, of his constitutional rights to challenge his accusers in court. It ruled the government must allow al-Marri to be released from military detention.

The government intends to ask the full 4th Circuit to hear the case, Justice Department spokesman Dean Boyd said.

BOMBERS HIT 2 KEY IRAQ BRIDGES IN 2 DAYS

BAGHDAD — Suspected al-Qaida bombers stepped up attacks on key transportation arteries, striking a bridge north of the capital Monday a day after shutting the superhighway south of Baghdad with a huge explosion that collapsed an overpass and killed three U.S. soldiers.

The latest attack, a parked truck bomb, blew apart the bridge that carries traffic over the Diyala River in Baqouba, police said on condition they not be identified by name because they feared retribution. There were no casualties, but motorists and truckers now must use a road that runs through al-Qaida-controlled territory to reach important nearby cities.

Baqouba is the capital of Diyala province, which is swarming with al-Qaida fighters. Those militants were driven out of Baghdad by the four-month-old U.S. security operation and out of Anbar province west of the capital by Sunni tribesman who rose up against the terrorist group.

The attacks on the bridges were only the latest in a campaign to deepen turmoil in Iraq, especially on the vital transportation network linking Baghdad to the rest of the country. Such bombings — especially suicide attacks — are an al-Qaida trademark and one of the group's many and ever-shifting tactics against U.S. and Iraqi forces.

Earlier this month, a bomb heavily damaged the Sarhat Bridge, a key crossing 90 miles north of the capital on a major road connecting Baghdad with Irbil, Sulaimaniya and other Kurdish cities.

BUSH IMMIGRATION BILL PUSH TESTS CLOUT

WASHINGTON — President Bush is putting his influence within his own party to the test Tuesday as he pleads personally with skeptical Senate Republicans to resurrect his immigration bill.

Despite his confident tone Monday about the measure's fate, Bush is facing a hostile audience that has shown little appetite for following his lead on the contentious issue.

Bush left no room for the possibility that his bid to legalize up to 12 million unlawful immigrants while tightening border security — among his top domestic priorities — might die. "I'll see you at the bill signing," he said while traveling in Bulgaria.

Still, weakened by his sagging poll numbers and a sense within GOP ranks that the president has lost touch with his core supporters on immigration, Bush may well lack the clout he would need to persuade Republicans to back the measure, say lawmakers and strategists.

Republicans overwhelmingly favor enforcing current laws over giving unlawful immigrants a path to citizenship, putting Bush on the wrong side of an issue that unites the party, said GOP pollster Tony Fabrizio.

IRAQ STUDY OFFICIALS QUESTION MARCH GOAL

WASHINGTON — The co-chairs of the Iraq Study Group said Monday they were unsure whether the panel's goal of pulling combat troops out of Iraq by March 2008 remains valid.

The blue-ribbon panel's five Republican and five Democratic members concluded six months ago that most combat troops could be out of Iraq by the 2008 date if certain steps were taken. They said a smaller contingent could be left behind to train Iraqi security forces and conduct other narrowly defined missions.

The report received a tepid response by the White House and Congress until recently, as administration officials contemplate their next step in Iraq and congressional Republicans look for a solution to end the politically unpopular war.

Addressing a National Press Club luncheon, James Baker and Lee Hamilton said they believed the group's findings were still meaningful.

But the 2008 date "would, of course, be something different, in my view at least, because we were talking that date when we came with the report in December of 2006. This is now June of 2007," said Baker, secretary of state during the first Bush administration and Republican co-chairman of the group.

10-YEAR SENTENCE FOR TEEN SEX THROWN OUT

ATLANTA — A Georgia judge ordered the release Monday of a man sentenced to 10 years in prison for consensual oral sex with a 15-year-old girl when he was 17, a sentence that had been widely criticized as grossly disproportionate to the crime.

Several influential people, including former President Jimmy Carter, publicly supported Genarlow Wilson's appeals, and state lawmakers voted to close the loophole that led to his 10-year term.

Monday's ruling doesn't ensure Wilson's freedom, though.

Georgia Attorney General Thurbert Baker said Monday afternoon that he had filed notice of appeal, arguing that Georgia law does not give a judge authority to reduce or modify the sentence imposed by the trial court. He said he would seek an expedited ruling from the Georgia Supreme Court.

Tracy J. Smith, a public affairs officer for the state Department of Corrections, said Wilson, now 21, would not be released until the department receives guidance from the state attorney general's office or from the court that originally sentenced Wilson.

ATLANTIS ASTRONAUTS BEGIN SPACEWALK

HOUSTON — Two astronauts floated outside the international space station Monday to begin connecting the orbiting outpost's newest addition: a 35,000-pound segment that will increase its power capability.

The start of the spacewalk was delayed by more than an hour because the four spinning gyroscopes that keep the space station properly positioned became overloaded. Space shuttle Atlantis was used to help control the station's orientation until the gyroscopes were able to take over again.

This pushed back efforts by astronauts on the space station to place the new segment with the station's robotic arm. The new segment needed to be securely attached before the spacewalkers could begin making power and data connections.

Astronauts James Reilly, on his fourth spacewalk, and Danny Olivas, on his first, began their spacewalk at 4:02 p.m. EDT as the space station flew 208 miles over the southern Pacific Ocean.

MOORE LAWYER CLAIMS DISCRIMINATION

LOS ANGELES — Michael Moore's attorney said Monday that the filmmaker's criticism of the Bush administration may have prompted a federal investigation into his trip to Cuba for the upcoming health-care documentary, "Sicko."

In a letter to the U.S. Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control, attorney David Boies noted that Moore has been a critic of President Bush in his books and films, which include 2004's "Fahrenheit 9/11," a harsh indictment of White House actions regarding the Sept. 11 attacks.

"For this reason, I am concerned that Mr. Moore has been selected for discriminatory treatment by your office," Boies wrote in response to a letter sent to Moore last month from Dale Thompson, OFAC chief of general investigations and field operations.