The random political thoughts thread (Part Deux)

Alex · 09-23-2009, 10:17 AM

The Bush administration completely overused the state secrets privilege (it was misused to some extend before but I'm of the opinion that the Bush administration extended it to a ridiculous extent).

There seemed to be some expectation that Obama would decline to use it altogether, which is self-evidently (again in my opinion) ridiculous as well.

However, today a new policy on state secrets has been announced by the Attorney General and it seems like a very good position to me. The hurdle is significantly raised, many people have to sign off and judges will generally have the ability to review for themselves the evidence the government is attempting to exclude.

So far, most of the observers I've read from both ends of the spectrum seem to think it is a good change.

09-23-2009, 10:17 AM	#11
Alex . Join Date: Feb 2005 Posts: 13,354	The Bush administration completely overused the state secrets privilege (it was misused to some extend before but I'm of the opinion that the Bush administration extended it to a ridiculous extent). There seemed to be some expectation that Obama would decline to use it altogether, which is self-evidently (again in my opinion) ridiculous as well. However, today a new policy on state secrets has been announced by the Attorney General and it seems like a very good position to me. The hurdle is significantly raised, many people have to sign off and judges will generally have the ability to review for themselves the evidence the government is attempting to exclude. So far, most of the observers I've read from both ends of the spectrum seem to think it is a good change.
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