"We have to understand you can fight the war [on terrorism] and lose everything if you have no civil liberties left when you get through fighting the war," said Lamberth, appointed by President Ronald Reagan.

The judge disagreed with letting the executive branch alone decide which people to spy on in national security cases.

"The executive has to fight and win the war at all costs. But judges understand the war has to be fought, but it can't be at all costs," Lamberth said. "We still have to preserve our civil liberties. Judges are the kinds of people you want to entrust that kind of judgment to more than the executive."

Lamberth was named chief of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court in 1995 by Chief Justice William Rehnquist. He held that post until 2002.

The court meets in secret to review applications from the FBI, the National Security Agency and other agencies for warrants to tap or search the homes of people in the U.S. in terrorist or espionage cases.

Shortly after Sept. 11, Bush authorized the NSA to spy on calls between people in the U.S. and suspected terrorists abroad without court warrants. The administration said it needed to act faster than the court could and that the president had constitutional authority to order warrantless domestic spying.

The provisions of the decree relating to Google's attempt to intervene are mostly set to expire in November. The consent decree -- part of a settlement among Microsoft, the Justice Department and a number of state attorneys general -- resolved litigation that began in 1998 and bars Microsoft from taking specific actions that harm rivals' software products.

Last week, Microsoft agreed to revise its new Vista operating system under a compromise with federal and state officials monitoring the firm's compliance with the decree and in response to a complaint raised by Google last year. The revisions would allow users to select a default desktop search provider in the same way they choose a default Internet browser. Microsoft will also add links to make it easier for users to add other desktop searches, such as Google Desktop Search, said a company executive, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the company had not given him permission to be quoted.

"Microsoft went the extra mile to resolve these issues in a spirit of compromise," said Jack Evans, a Microsoft spokesman. "The government has clearly stated that it is satisfied with the changes we're making. Google has provided no new information that should suggest otherwise in their filing."

David C. Drummond, Google senior vice president and chief legal officer, acknowledged in an e-mail that "the remedies won by the Department of Justice and state Attorneys General from Microsoft are a positive step." But, he said, "consumers will likely need further measures to ensure meaningful choice. Ultimately, these issues raise the need for continued judicial oversight of Microsoft's practices, to ensure that consumers' interests are best served."

In its court filing, Google asserted that "Microsoft will continue to show its own desktop search results" when Vista users run searches from various access points on their computer, such as the Start menu.

Microsoft officials countered that nothing precludes a user from launching a Google Desktop Search from a computer running Vista. "There's at least four different ways" to launch it, said the company executive.

Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly is scheduled to hold a status conference today on Microsoft's adherence to the consent decree with Microsoft, Justice Department officials and representatives of state attorneys general. Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal said in an e-mail statement yesterday he believes the court should consider permitting Google to provide more information.

But Theodore Bolema, a law professor at Central Michigan University and former Justice Department attorney handling antitrust issues, said he found Google's complaint ironic. "We've got companies that pride themselves on being upstarts," he said, "and now they're looking for the heavy hand of the government to come in and basically regulate." He noted that Google's complaint "seems focused on protecting Google," a competitor, rather than on protecting consumers, which is a tenet of antitrust law.

Court oversight will continue into 2009 over discussions concerning the documentation of some of Microsoft's software.

Former U.S. Rep. Melissa Hart has rejoined Pittsburgh law firm Keevican Weiss Bauerle & Hirsch LLC as a member.

Hart was defeated by Jason Altmire last November after serving three terms as the Republican representative from McCandless.

Keevican Weiss Bauerle & Hirsch launched in 1988 and has offices in Cleveland and Harrisburg. In 2003, the firm, then ranked as Pittsburgh's ninth largest and known as DKW Law Group PC, filed for protection from creditors under Chapter 11 of the federal bankruptcy code, emerging successfully later that year. It adopted the current name in early 2006.

Hart said in a statement that she was "happy to be back in a professional capacity at a first-rate organization among long-term friends and colleagues."