A former senior Justice Department official has revealed Vice President Cheney personally blocked the promotion of a government lawyer who had raised objections to the Bush administration’s domestic surveillance program. In written testimony to the Senate Judiciary Committee, former Deputy Attorney General James Comey says Cheney’s office intervened to prevent the promotion of Patrick Philbin because of Philbin’s vocal concerns. Comey also disclosed Cheney told Justice Department officials he disagreed with their objections to the program at a White House meeting in March 2004. The meeting was held one day after administration officials tried to get then-Attorney General John Ashcroft to sign off on the program as he lay recovering from major surgery in his hospital bed.