White House hands guided Justice Department business.

Vice President Dick Cheney opposed a promotion for a deputy involved in a heated dispute with the White House over the legality of a controversial domestic surveillance program, former Deputy Attorney General James Comey told senators.

Responding to written questions from members of the Senate Judiciary Committee, Comey implicated Cheney's office in thwarting the appointment of Patrick Philbin as deputy solicitor general in the wake of the dispute over the National Security Agency surveillance program.

"I understood that someone at the White House communicated to Attorney General [Alberto] Gonzales that the vice president would oppose the appointment if the attorney general pursued the matter," Comey wrote. "The attorney general chose not to pursue it."

Via cnn