Justice Department objects to requests for classified opinions from the Senate panel hearing the issue next week.

WASHINGTON - The Bush administration is rebuffing requests from members of the Senate Judiciary Committee for its classified legal opinions on President Bush's domestic spying program, setting up a confrontation in advance of a hearing scheduled for next week, administration and congressional officials said Wednesday.

The Justice Department is balking at the request so far, administration officials said, arguing that the legal opinions would add little to the public debate because the administration already has laid out its legal defense at length in several public settings.

With the committee scheduled to hold the first public hearing on the eavesdropping program on Monday, the Justice Department stance could provoke another clash between Congress and the executive branch over access to sensitive internal documents. The administration already has drawn fire from Democrats in the last week for refusing to make available internal documents on Hurricane Katrina as well as photos and other material related to White House visits by lobbyist Jack Abramoff.

Several Democrats and at least one Republican have pressed the Justice Department in recent days to give them access, even in a closed setting, to the internal documents that formed the legal foundation of the surveillance program. But when asked whether the classified legal opinions would be made available to Congress, a senior Justice Department official said Wednesday, "I don't think they're coming out."