State Your Secrets

STATE YOUR SECRETS
[SOURCE: Slate, AUTHOR: Justin Florence and Matthew Gerke]
[Commentary] As the Senate debates a fix to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act this week, the battles rage fiercest over whether to grant immunity from liability to private telecom companies that assisted the administration with terrorist surveillance (aka domestic eavesdropping). When the administration first asked the telecoms to help with its surveillance activities, the companies demanded—and received—written assurance from the White House and Justice Department that the program was lawful. If the administration really cared about the telecoms, it would simply allow them to use these legal documents to defend themselves in court. But it won't. Instead, the administration invokes a little-known rule of evidence called the state secrets privilege, which allows the executive branch to avoid revealing evidence—or even litigating cases—if it claims that doing so might reveal a "state secret." Retroactive immunity isn't about letting the telecoms off the hook. It's about hiding the administration's own legal claims from any judicial or public scrutiny. The administration wants to keep these cases out of court so it can cover up for itself. Congress can protect the telecoms without falling for this trick.
http://www.slate.com/id/2177962/fr/rss/