State Secrets
One of the favorite tools of the Bush administration was the state secrets privilege, the legal doctrine which allowed it to shut down lawsuits on the grounds of national security. It was hated by advocates of a free and open government, and Bush et al. took significant flak for their use of the doctrine.
The Obama administration just filed a unnecessary friend-of-the-court brief with the Supreme Court supporting the states secrets doctrine. It was unnecessary because the case in question dealt with attorney-client privilege, the Obama brief was filed just to make sure the court knew where the administration stands on the issue.
Which is, as I have said before, far to the right of where anyone expected. I wrote a long piece on this back in June (Obama the Conservative), but to recap: the Obama administration has consistently adopted very conservative (read: Bush-like) views on personal freedom and liberty as well as the checks on state power. It has supported the national police state, and this latest filing merely continues the trend. Obama wants a "free" and "open" society, just as long as the government is above the law.
The Obama administration just filed a unnecessary friend-of-the-court brief with the Supreme Court supporting the states secrets doctrine. It was unnecessary because the case in question dealt with attorney-client privilege, the Obama brief was filed just to make sure the court knew where the administration stands on the issue.
Which is, as I have said before, far to the right of where anyone expected. I wrote a long piece on this back in June (Obama the Conservative), but to recap: the Obama administration has consistently adopted very conservative (read: Bush-like) views on personal freedom and liberty as well as the checks on state power. It has supported the national police state, and this latest filing merely continues the trend. Obama wants a "free" and "open" society, just as long as the government is above the law.
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