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Warrantless Physical Searches?

MSNBC's Countdown discussed last night a press release from US News and World Report regarding an article to be posted sometime this evening. The article apparently reveals that shortly after the September 11th attacks, the same lawyers who argued that Bush had the authority to conduct warrantless eavesdropping also concluded he could authorize warrantless physical searches. Crooks & Liars has the video and links to a rough transcript of the segment.

I wonder what those who defended Bush's warrantless eavesdropping will have to say if this turns out to be true.

Update: Georgia10 has a good point that it does not matter whether or not warrantless searches have been conducted (though I have very little doubt that they have not). The fact that the Bush administration even considered it is, as she puts it, 'nothing short of breathtakingly shocking'. For me, this really comes as no surprise. If they can claim authority to bypass one law, why stop there? We already know that anti-war protestors have been monitored by both the FBI and the Pentagon. Would it really be surprising to find that those same individuals may have had their homes or businesses searched in so-called 'black bag' operations?

It is becoming increasingly clear that 9/11 did change everything. But sadly we are only just now learning the extent of those "changes".

Update II: Here is a link to the US News article in question.