OBAMA JUSTICE DEPARTMENT STILL ARGUING "STATE SECRETS"

Dan Froomkin in his White House Watch blog in today's The Washington Post reminds us that Obama's Justice Department has inexplicably maintained the bogus doctrine of "state secrets" to try to quash three cases being brought in federal court against government trampling on the Constitution.

The whole notion of "state secrets" as a defense against individuals claiming tortious and harmful action by the federal government is riddled with bogus legal reasoning. What possible could be so sensitive that it could not be revealed to a federal judge sitting in chambers reviewing a case? The whole concept seems intent in bypassing the federal courts and arrogating to the executive privileges and powers not granted in Article II of the Constitution.

On the basis of "state secrets," the Obama Justice Department wants the courts to deny pleas from Guantanamo internees as well as to dismiss a law suit charging AT&T with violating the Fourth Amendment in enabling phone taps. This state secrets argument is just bull, for which there is no credible legal basis. The courts should maintain their own constitutional duties and disregard the Obama government's self-serving legal arguments that revelation of certain facts will jeopardize national security.

If the Obama Justice Department prevails, every suit initiated against the executive or against the federal government is in jeopardy of failing in the face of an argument in favor of "state secrets." Obama should end this charade now, right now, and allow the federal courts and the public to evaluate the cases on their own merits, instead of relying on the specious line of "state secrets."

ATTORNEY GENERAL SHOULD NAME A SPECIAL PROSECUTOR TO INVESTIGATE DESTRUCTION OF CIA TORTURE VIDEO TAPES

I want to see Attorney General Michael Mukasey name a special prosecutor outside of the Department of Justice to investigate the destruction of the torture video tapes made by the CIA. Appointing someone from the Justice Department is like having the fox guard the hen house. Even if the designated prosecutor is as pure as Caesar's wife, still there remains a suspicion over picking someone from the government to do the investigation of the government, especially in this case, when the highest officials, viz., Bush and Cheney, may be involved.

9/11 COMMISSION SHOULD REQUEST SPECIAL PROSECUTOR ABOUT FAILURE TO TURN OVER TORTURE TAPES

Now we know that Bush's C.I.A. stiffed the 9/11 Commission by refusing to hand over or declare the torture tapes. When a lawyer requests documents, photocopies, records and the like, video and audio tapes are expected. For the CIA to say that it didn't turn over the video tapes because the plaintiffs did not asked for them specifically as such is duplicitous and scheming and above all does not pass the laugh test. The 9/11 Commission should ask for a special prosecutor to investigate the situation. I see criminal complaints possible in the near future against the Justice Department and the CIA and whomever else is involved (Bush/Cheney?).

DOJ FINDS ONLY ONE E-MAIL FROM KARL ROVE ON U.S. ATTORNEY-GATE

I can't believe that the Department of Justice refuses to turn over to the Senate Judiciary Committee more than one e-mail from Karl Rove regarding the firing of the nine U.S. attorneys.

Paul Kane writes today in the Washington Post:

"The Justice Department told Congress yesterday that a search of e-mails sent over 2 1/2 years turned up a single message in which the department's senior officials communicated with White House adviser Karl Rove about the dismissals of nine U.S. attorneys last year.

"In a letter to Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick J. Leahy (D-Vt.), a senior Justice official said the department scoured its computers in response to a subpoena and found just the single e-mail chain written earlier this year. It already had been released publicly.

"The possibility that Rove had a role in the removal of the U.S. attorneys has become a central issue in Congress's investigation."

The DOJ can find but a single e-mail? This is preposterous and clearly a case of refusing to turn over documents requested by a Congressional committee. Destruction or concealment of documents is a serious offense when the subject of a court order or request by a panel of Congress.

The response of the DOJ is reminiscent of Nixon refusing to turn over tapes of White House conversations involving the Watergate burglary. Things can only get worse for Bush & Co. and Attorney General Alberto Gonzales as this matter develops.

DOJ TRIES TO RESTRICT LAWYERS FROM GUANTANAMO PRISONERS

William Glaberson writes in today's The New York Times that the Department of Justice wants stricter controls on Guantanamo inmates' access to their lawyers.

"Saying that visits by civilian lawyers and attorney-client mail have caused “intractable problems and threats to security at Guantánamo,” a Justice Department filing proposes new limits on the lawyers’ contact with their clients and access to evidence in their cases that would replace more expansive rules that have governed them since they began visiting Guantánamo detainees in large numbers in 2004. "

For every one of us who are trained as lawyers, this move is reprehensible and disgusting. The belief in the rule of law where the accused have access to legal counsel has to be one of the main tenets of every lawyer's beliefs. By eliminating legal counsel from an accused, the state can do anything it wants, without fear of being held itself to the rule of law.

The DOJ's proposal shows how little it values the rule of law and the proposition that everyone, no matter how serious a crime he/she has been accused of, has a right to a fair trial and diligent representation.