Thornburgh claims to be mystified by charges from leaders of NOW and civil-liberties groups that he has shifted on issues.

Justice Sandler had been active in liberal Democratic politics until he became a judge, and had been a member of civil-liberties groups.

"Our belief is not only for freedom of speech and due process," said Nadine Strossen, the civil-liberties group's president, "but also for equality rights for women and minority groups to have equal educational opportunities."

Such proposals have been strongly criticized by some civil-liberties groups, which do not believe they are constitutional.

When this computer profiling began, civil-liberties groups and Arab American groups complained that it would be based on ethnicity or religion and thus violate some passengers' rights.

The government had put forward even harsher proposals last fall that drew widespread criticism, and has offered this version as a supposed concession to civil-liberties groups.

The Koch administration, in a move that has come under criticism from civil-liberties groups, is planning to begin asking people arrested on felony charges to undergo drug tests voluntarily before their first court appearance or arraignment.

But architecture students working for the civil-liberties group measured the steps and calculated that they could hold 432 "Norman-Siegel-sized people."

In any event, the latest move in his long-running investigation infuriated Ms. Lewinsky's lawyer and brought expressions of alarm and dismay from civil-liberties groups.

And many employee-rights and civil-liberties groups, while conceding that employers have a right to seek a drug-free workplace, say undercover operations are unwarranted in most circumstances.