When the Obama administration announced they were going to limit the use of the State Secrets privilege six weeks ago, I simply did not believe it (see reasons 1, 2). Then, the news broke last Friday in a White House “trash dump“, a maneuver used to hide important stories amid numerous bits of procedural dross, that
the Obama administration has, yet again, asserted the broadest and most radical version of the “state secrets” privilege — which previously caused so much controversy and turmoil among loyal Democrats (when used by Bush/Cheney) — to attempt to block courts from ruling on the legality of the government’s domestic surveillance activities.Glenn Greenwald
Rather than hem and haw again about how this is the fall of the Republic, which this very well could be, I will simply ask that you please take the time to go read Glenn Greenwald’s excellent piece on this matter of great consequence. It is as well-linked and well-written as anything I could have hoped for. Plus, he is an actual constitutional lawyer, instead of an armchair litigator like me. Go! Read it right now! Then come back here to discuss, tweet it, facebook it and tell all your friends this is happening.