For high-level federal officials, emails aren't just quick notes to be sent and forgotten. When they discuss government business, they're supposed to be saved and archived as part of records than can become public eventually. Now there's a flap over Hillary Clinton's unusual email routine as secretary of state from 2009-13. The wife of former President Bill Clinton, who’s widely expected to run for the Democratic presidential nomination in 2016, used a private email address and a non-government computer server to send work messages and personal ones.

Clinton says she chose the convenience of one cellphone and a personal server, rather than use a government-issued phone for business and another device for personal matters. When questions arose this month, she gave electronic files with about 30,000 official messages to State Department record-keepers – after deleting another 32,000 described as personal. "I chose not to keep my private, personal emails," Clinton told reporters last week. "I have absolute confidence that everything that could be in any way connected to work is now in the possession of the State Department."

Predictably, that process provokes sharp questions from journalists and Republicans. "We don't get to grade our own papers in life," says Rep. Trey Gowdy, R-S.C. He wants the former Cabinet member "to turn the [email] server over to an independent, neutral third-party." The topic still is hot, with more than a few commentators saying questions remain (see video below). In The New York Times on Sunday, columnist Maureen Dowd accused Clinton of "shadowy shenanigans."

Clinton says: "When I got to work as Secretary of State, I opted for convenience to use my personal email account, which was allowed by the State Department." – March 10 news conference

Columnist writes: "The way she handled her communications was the exact opposite of transparency in public service. Particularly the part where she let some unidentified lawyers decide which messages belonged to the government and which ones were private conversations that ought to be expunged from history." – Gail Collins, The New York Times

Blogger posts: "When it comes to her antipathy for the media, I can't blame Clinton. Not one tiny bit." – Elias Isquith, Salon.com