Judicial independence. A relic of the past.
(CBS/AP) The Bush administration asked federal judges in New York and Michigan to dismiss a pair of lawsuits filed over the National Security Agency's domestic eavesdropping program, saying litigation would jeopardize state secrets.
In legal papers filed late Friday, Justice Department lawyers said it would be impossible to defend the legality of the spying program without disclosing classified information that could be of value to suspected terrorists.
National Intelligence Director John Negroponte invoked the state secrets privilege on behalf of the administration, writing that disclosure of such information would cause "exceptionally grave damage" to national security.
"National security". That has a nice ring to it, doesn't it?
Well, it certainly didn't to Maher Arar or Khaled el-Masri who both found their lawsuits against the US government dismissed on the same grounds earlier this year. And who can forget the case of Sibel Edmonds? Dismissed. 'State secrets', the government claimed once again.
Beyond the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq and the so-called war on terror (which will never be won), the new war appears to be Bush's war on his dissenters. Then again, he's actually been waging that one since long before he became president. Just ask John McCain. No...wait. John appears to believe in selective memory, which he mistakes as 'forgiveness', while he's busy being Bush's sock-puppet every chance he gets.
When John Ashcroft covered up Lady Justice's bare breast he should have gagged her at the same time, because that's exactly what's been done to what she symbolizes in America.
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