Still wrong on wiretapping

[Commentary] One of former President George W. Bush's most disastrous legacies - his warrantless wiretaps - has picked up a curious ally in President Obama. What the new White House wants is pretty much what the old team had: secrecy cloaking an end run around civil liberties. For months the surveillance debate has gone on before Chief U.S. District Judge Vaughn Walker, who is clearly weary with the Washington bob-and-weave. He's even mentioned a withering government report released this month by five watchdog agencies that said the effectiveness of the illegal wiretaps was unclear. The decision in his lap isn't an easy one. He can side with Obama lawyers and dismiss the case in the name of national security, a path that courts often take when confronted with a flag-waving invocation of homeland defense. Or he can open up a dark chapter in the nation's history to the plain light of legal examination. Such a decision would definitely roil the waters while the truth surfaces. But since the president won't do it, it's time the courts stepped in.