The Senate Judiciary Committee today approved a motion authorizing subpoenas of the Justice Department for information related to the National Security Agency’s warrantless surveillance program.

The vote was 13-3, with Republicans Jon Kyl of Arizona, Jeff Sessions of Alabama and John Cornyn of Texas dissenting.

On May 21, Leahy and ranking Republican Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania wrote to Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales to request the documents. They set a June 5 deadline, which Gonzales did not meet. The Justice Department rebuffed Leahy in a letter yesterday.

“We need this information for our investigation,” Leahy said. Specter concurred, pointing to the apparent discrepancy between Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales’ testimony before the committee last year that there was no serious disagreement within the department on the surveillance program, and former Deputy Attorney General James B. Comey’s testimony last month that several senior Justice officials nearly resigned over the program in 2004.

Other Democrats on the panel accused the administration of stonewalling lawmakers seeking information about the surveillance program.

The administration has proposed further changes to a 1978 law governing electronic surveillance for counter-terrorism purposes. But Sen. Richard J. Durbin, D-Ill., said that “it is still premature to consider legislation” while “Congress is still in the dark” about the details of the NSA program.