Obama Justice Department Continues Bush’s ‘State Secrets’ Argument…Again
EmailJake Tapper and Jason Ryan report:
In a court filing submitted in the middle of the night, President Obama's Justice Department is continuing the "state secrets" argument of his predecessor in litigation over the National Security Agency's Terrorist Surveillance Program.
The al-Haramain Islamic Foundation, investigated for terrorist financing out of its Oregon offices, sued the government alleging it was targeted under the NSA's warrantless wiretapping program.
In the middle of the night the Justice Department filed its response in the court case, telling a federal judge, who has ordered it to disclose information in the case, that Justice is still asserting the state secrets privilege.
"The Government must continue to oppose the disclosure of state secrets in any further proceedings," the Justice Department wrote.
The judge has said he will institute sanctions against the Justice Department for not complying with the court's orders.
"The Government has merely declined voluntarily to agree to a protective order that would, in the Government's view, require disclosures that would irretrievably compromise important national security interests," the Justice Department filing said.
"The Government recognizes that the underlying dispute in this case raises the fundamental separation-of-powers question concerning whether the Court has the ultimate authority under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) to order the disclosure of state secrets to a private party over the Government’s objection."
The Justice Department wrote that "this is not an ordinary discovery dispute in an ordinary case. It concerns information that our nation’s highest officials have determined must be protected."
We've looked before at the President's frequent invocation of the "State Secrets" argument despite the pledge on the Obama-Biden campaign Web site where "The Problem" is described in part as the Bush administration having "invoked a legal tool known as the 'state secrets' privilege more than any other previous administration to get cases thrown out of civil court."
Justice Department spokeswoman Tracy Schmaler said in a statement that the Obama administration "recognizes that invoking the states secret privilege is a significant step that should be taken only when absolutely necessary. In keeping with the administration’s commitment to transparency, the President just this week announced the formation of an interagency task force to be headed by the Attorney General and the Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security to review procedures for labeling and sharing sensitive information to ensure that the needs of law enforcement, privacy and civil liberties strike the proper balance. At the same time, the Justice Department has been reviewing the state secrets on a case by case basis and hopes to make the results of that review public."
- Jake Tapper and Jason Ryan
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Seriously, I feel like Bush and Obama have actually been working together all along as some sort of good cop – bad cop scam — with the intention of destroying the United States. It’s certainly working.
Posted by: paul | May 30, 2009, 10:20 pm 10:20 pm
Why does this or anything else that O has done shock people? It seems that there has never been a person as ‘owned’ as he is. I like the fact that he has so many ’roundtables’ but that means he’s not the brain-child. He’s a great diplomat and works it from both side of the fenses. That’s great but we’ll see that he’s just another politician and sometimes, he says anything to get the vote. He got the votes by claiming to be everything opposite Bush & the Republicans (Lincoln just fit in there somewhere). The road to hell is paved with good intentions, or something like that! Hope he’s enjoying his night off befo the next roundtable!
Posted by: Hope | May 30, 2009, 11:00 pm 11:00 pm
Maybe if the Obama administration reaches the same conclusion that the Bush administration met in similar circumstances often enough, people will start to get the idea that maybe the Bush administration was not so awful after all. Naw, that’ll never happen. But it should.
Posted by: moderate | May 30, 2009, 11:00 pm 11:00 pm
The executive and judiciary being essentially agents of the congress, there is nothing preventing the congress from acting or forming resolutions on a case-by-case basis if necessary. A conflict between the highest justice and the highest executive being essentially a request from the congress for clarification of their instructions. I will likely send my congressional representatives my opinion that they should move to settle these FISA disputes with case-by-case resolutions, or with more general amendments as needed, if the conclusions of these kinds of judicial/executive conflicts do not meet their expectations.
Posted by: MarkLeavenworth | May 31, 2009, 12:15 am 12:15 am
Why would this surprise anyone?
The new Messiah is a fraud, a con artist, an opportunist, intellectually shallow, & a host of other unprintable descriptions. I obviously can’t stand him – and I can’t understand why no one sees through all the hypocritical BS rhetoric that spouts endlessly from his mouth. The media kisses his butt day & night & covers up his inept & incompetent policies, endless fluff articles about what a great leader he is, uncritically, swallowing every flip-flop with blind idol-worship. Most of the mainstream media has become nothing better than a propaganda machine like the old-time Pravda of the defunct Soviet Union. The fearless leader can do no wrong.
In the meantime, we are failing miserably around the world, screwing our friends & appeasing our worst enemies. Obama’s speech in Cairo being a prime example – like our foreign policy should be a popularity contest while all the while, Iran pushes forward it’s nuclear program & Obama does absolutely nothing, N. Korea tests it’s new products for sale to every other rogue state, Syria sends jihadis to Iraq to kill Americans, Hezbollah is poised to take over Lebanon, & Pakistan (a failed state with nuclear weapons) could be taken over by the Taliban.
Posted by: Terry | May 31, 2009, 2:20 am 2:20 am
Obama’s speech in Cairo being a prime example – like our foreign policy should be a popularity contest while all the while, Iran pushes forward it’s nuclear program & Obama does absolutely nothing……Syria sends jihadis to Iraq to kill Americans…”
Obama’s speech in Cairo was exactly part of what Obama was doing about Iran and it is far from nothing. Do you suggest we attack them instead? Tough talk is cheap, but an attack on Iran would create far more jihadists to kill our troops.
Posted by: Skip | May 31, 2009, 2:32 am 2:32 am
Skip – Since when does appeasement work with ideologically driven crazies? Iran has catagorically rejected every concession (the famous ”carrots”) for the last five years, stalling for time while it continues it’s drive for nuclear weapons. In case you don’t read the news, Iran is ignoring Obama & sees him as weak, they know he’ll do nothing. In effect, Obama is willing to accept a nuclear-armed Iran just as it will now accept a nuclear N. Korea.
Obama has even warned the Israelis (& I’m Israeli, by the way) not to strike Iran. If Obama doesn’t want to strike Iran, he could at least let us do it. Chances are, we’ll do it anyway, without American approval.
Whatever the consequences of a military strike on Iran, they are far better than having nuclear-armed Islamic crazies or have you forgotten 9/11 so soon. Do you think that a pretty speech to Al-Qaeda would have prevented that attack too? You’re living in a dream-world if you think anything America does will ever satisfy Islamists.
Posted by: Terry | May 31, 2009, 2:53 am 2:53 am
Terry- You’re Israeli??? I had no idea…
Posted by: MarkLeavenworth | May 31, 2009, 3:03 am 3:03 am
If Obama doesn’t want to strike Iran, he could at least let us do it. Chances are, we’ll do it anyway, without American approval.
Terry
Terry, you imply killing millions in multiple wars in many countries.. Is Israel ready to attack Iran, Syria, Lebanon and wage urban war against Hamas and Hezbollah without U.S. backing?
You seem to blaming all of this on Obama, for not attacking the mentioned countries….
So what’s your solution as an Israeli, if Israel attacks Iran what do you think the consequences would be……
Posted by: NO Mas | May 31, 2009, 3:05 am 3:05 am
Skip – By the way, the situation with Iran is not just the fault of Obama. Bush in his second term talked tough but did nothing much, he gave in to your almost-always wrong State Dept. & screwy assessments from a hopelessly inept CIA. Now, after the Iranians see the weak reaction to N. Korea’s atomic test, the are SURE Obama will do absolutely nothing.
Appeasement does not work. Dialogue works best AFTER you have defeated an enemy. In any case, no pretty speech will boost America’s popularity in the increasingly hostile Muslim world. To believe otherwise is hopelessly naive, a willful ignoring of all evidence, & will only increase rather than decrease hostility. Islamists don’t hate America because of what you do, they hate you because you exist.
Posted by: Terry | May 31, 2009, 3:10 am 3:10 am
Mark Leavenworth – I’m Israeli for the last 5 yrs. Before that I was Moroccan, I lived in Marrakech. I speak French & Arabic as well as English & really bad Hebrew. I had to leave Morocco because of the big-time increase in anti-Semitism & anti-Americanism after 9/11.
I follow closely American politics, what America does matters in the world.
A weak America does the world no favour.
Posted by: Terry | May 31, 2009, 3:22 am 3:22 am
” the big-time increase in anti-Semitism & anti-Americanism after 9/11″
Surely you mean after the American invasion of Iraq. 9/11 garnered sympathy for the United States world wide even Iran.
It was after the ill-advised attack on Iraq that world sympathies shifted.
Posted by: danita | May 31, 2009, 3:33 am 3:33 am
Terry . ..
I have no use for religious extremists of any sort whether Judaism, Christianity or Islam. Ignorant backwards beliefs that have caused much grief.
And I have no use for individuals who name call and smear elected leaders to push their own personal political agenda.
Posted by: danita | May 31, 2009, 3:40 am 3:40 am
Danita re: your second comment.
On the day of the attack on NY I was sitting watching TV waiting for lunch.
I thought it was a new sci-fiction movie or something (we often watched TV with the sound off in Morocco). I like sci-fi so I turned on the sound. Needless to say, I was horrified & watched CNN until evening.
I then went to the cafe where I meet my friends every evening (all Arabs. I expected them to have much the same reaction as I did. What a shock I got.
My educated, relatively secular, very ”modern” ”moderate” friends were thrilled, over-joyed, almost ecstatic, over the attack. All agreed that this is what America deserves. Then, all agreed Arabs didn’t do it – Israel must have done it, the Jews are behind it. Later in the evening, after much heated discussion, the ”party line” came from the mosques – this is a Zionist Conspiracy, all the Jews were warned ahead of time to stay away from the Twin Towers, etc. etc.
What you don’t understand is that the hostility is already there, sometimes just under the surface, sometimes not.
In case you don’t remember, Palestinians were dancing in the streets after 9/11 just like they do when they murder Israeli civilians in some loathsome terrorist attack.
Anyway, it just kept getting worse, I had daily arguments with people, the accusations ( Jews drink blood) coming from the mosques just kept coming, & this is what pushed me to leave.
It had nothing to do with Iraq, or anything else for that matter. These are only pretexts for an inherent & virulent hostility that no amount of pretty words can cure.
Posted by: Terry | May 31, 2009, 3:56 am 3:56 am
Terry- I’ve been an American (Christian) my whole life. I had a girlfriend from Morocco who was Muslim, and we communicated through speaking German. I might have married her if we had not parted ways so soon. I am neither an enemy, nor a fan, of Israel.
Posted by: MarkLeavenworth | May 31, 2009, 4:01 am 4:01 am
Terry . . .
After the various democratic governments the United States has helped to undermine and topple (Guatamala ’53, Iran ’54, Chile, etc), coupled with their ‘champion of democracy’ world posturing (and resource grab) and after all the tons of bombs the United States has dropped on other people’s homelands (or paid for to be dropped on other people’s homelands), it was a real surprise to see some destruction actually take place on American soil . ..
That some people would celebrate this is not a surprise to me.
It also does not surprise me at all that ignorance might also occur in other parts of the world, nor that brutality might exist there as well.
That we continue to blame this on blood-drinking jews or blood-thirsty arabs is not surprising either. Previously it was the blood-thisty north american savages, or the vietnamese or the japanese . .. .you name it.
It’s time to grow up Terry.
Posted by: danita | May 31, 2009, 4:09 am 4:09 am
Danita- There are many rivers that flow into our foreign policy. To expect that a diminished influence from Israel will in any way diminish our zeal for our principles and our security would be foolish. As we age, our policies should begin to reflect more wisdom, however.
Posted by: MarkLeavenworth | May 31, 2009, 4:17 am 4:17 am
Mark Leavenworth – I hope she cooked for you – Moroccan cooking is absolutely the best in the world (I’m obviously not impartial). It’s one of the few things I miss (very few things).
Food in Israel is awful, as bad as American food (if that’s possible).
Since I don’t know your ex-girlfriend I can’t comment. Nothing wrong with being a Christian either, nobody is perfect,
hahaha.
Posted by: Terry | May 31, 2009, 4:21 am 4:21 am
-objective & honest analysis….:
‘The new Messiah is a fraud, a con artist, an opportunist, intellectually shallow,: Terry
hmmmm.. well yeah, I can see how your comments are both objective and analytical.
Posted by: TJ | May 31, 2009, 4:23 am 4:23 am
Danita – It looks like you’re bought into the moral equivalancy thing big-time. Right, all the evils in the world are America’s fault, just like all the problems of the Middle-East are Israel’s fault. Both America (& Israel) must be held to an unrealistic 100% degree of perfection, a somewhat Utopian view, but everyone elses faults can be excused or ignored or rationalized away.
So, in your view, whose foreign policy is so perfect? Russia, China, the spineless Eurabian Union (collectively or individually)? While not perfect, America has been by far, by very far, the force for the greatest good on the planet.
There is such a thing as evil (not necessarily in a theological sense). Nazism was evil. Communism was evil. Maoism was evil. Another nasty totalitarian ideology (I won’t name it out of political correctness) is evil.
There is no moral equivalancy.
Posted by: Terry | May 31, 2009, 6:01 am 6:01 am
The usa muslin community must feel lonely about now even more so under the Bush years. They are still a part of the American family ok!
Posted by: Pete | May 31, 2009, 8:44 am 8:44 am
Terry:
so your argument is that America gets to do whatever it wants because we do a lot of good and ‘we’re’ not as bad as the other guys.
Our torture is better than their torture ’cause it’s American torture.
re: ‘unrealistic 100% degree of perfection’
no, no one is saying that, and no one is accepting ‘my country right or wrong either’…….. it’s sign of intelligence when one can examine your own mistakes, admit them and make sure you learn from them so they are not repeated.
I am always amazed how people’s faith in America and it’s Constitution becomes a thin veneer of fear just by having a discussion of America’s foreign and domestic policy errors.
Sort of like when people started questioning the Iraq war, they were labeled as un-American, traitors and supporters of terrorism.
Posted by: More or Less | May 31, 2009, 11:19 am 11:19 am
Presidents need to surround themselves with people they trust. President Bush did this masterfully by bringing in people who did things well that he could not do. The president does however need to be the final decision maker. They need to be able to make the tough calls that no one else wants to make. Tale others advice and make a decision. I don’t feel that President Obama is able to do this because of all his beholdings to so many hard core groups. Read how a president should act in The GH-4 Effect.
Posted by: Scott Snyder | May 31, 2009, 11:39 am 11:39 am
Key words to me in Jake’s story are “the middle of the night”. Where is the great transparency of the Obama administration? Where are the MSM stories on the outrage from the left that the EPA is set to approve 42 out of 48 MTR permits, more than were ever approved during the entire Bush administration? Where is the outrage that Eric Holder and the DOJ ordered US attorneys to drop the case against the Black Panthers in Philadelphia for voter intimidation, a case they had already won? Where’s the outrage? Guess a better question might be, where are the stories at all?
“Transparency” in the Obama administration is the biggest joke ever played on the American people.
Posted by: babs | May 31, 2009, 12:14 pm 12:14 pm
Obama is the most obvious pawn in the game, its sad how he 180′s from his campian to end up doing exactly what the guys before em were doing.. the system was set up to destroy itself and make an example out of it.. i hope people atleast learn from their ignorance and open their eyes to the stupidity we’ve embraced in our daily lives.
Posted by: awakened | May 31, 2009, 12:51 pm 12:51 pm
To Terry: I can understand that your experiences may lead you to thinking that your view is correct. And I certainly don’t deny the accuracy of your recollections. What you’re describing needs to be changed and there should be no apologies for it.
However, there are also other strains of thought that are common. Strains of thought that understand the history of diaspora and struggle and persecution of the Jewish community and so support the state of Israel as a Jewish state and a Jewish homeland. That’s fine and a source of joy for fair-minded people the world over.
What is not fine are policies that make life difficult for others, and a system of thinking that is “to hell with everyone else.” Such policies radicalizes emotions and thoughts of people who are inclined to be fair-minded. It shatters the instinct for fairness and respect.
I can absolutely understand why you would be skeptical of a new dialogue. From your experiences I would argue that you have a right to feel that way. But I would also argue that there are other patterns of thought out there — fair minded patterns of thought. I would argue that the world over is not a replica of your difficult and outrageous and unwarranted experiences. I know through first hand experience as well.
And I know there’s a lot to build on. And I think it is our responsibility in the world we live in now to build upon it. For our children’s sake. And our grandchildren’s sake.
There is a lot of patterns of thinking and cycles of distorted hatred and superstition and conspiracy theories that simply need to change. I would argue that there are enough fair minded people out there who can overpower that.
But we need to work on it. It’s our responsibility as people who live in this world.
Posted by: LLM | May 31, 2009, 1:34 pm 1:34 pm
The Change We Can Believe In.. is becoming more transparent.. all of the time…
I feel good, as I was never fooled by the ObamaNation.. even in the beginning.. thanks to Hillary and Bill.. they nailed this up.. during the primary..
Posted by: DontGet818OnMeNow | May 31, 2009, 2:23 pm 2:23 pm
babs
“Where is the great transparency of the Obama administration? Where are the MSM stories..”
transparent enough that you seem to know everything that’s happening….are you a spy, how did you find all that out….. and your blaming Obama for what news stories on MSM decides to cover.. yeeeeesh
Posted by: postman | May 31, 2009, 3:12 pm 3:12 pm
It’s easy to argue against having state secrets.. until you become the head of the state..and inherit said secrets..
They can’t tell us idiots very much, because we don’t take to the truth very well.. and we would rather be a flock of mindless sheep..
Posted by: DontGet818OnMeNow | May 31, 2009, 5:10 pm 5:10 pm
I wonder how many times in the past has an administration released or submitted court filings or any other potentially embarrassing news on late Friday night or in the middle of the night like this?
Posted by: Jason | May 31, 2009, 5:22 pm 5:22 pm
2:00 p.m. is NOT the middle of the night. Look at the filing!
Posted by: R. Wood | May 31, 2009, 6:45 pm 6:45 pm
Yep, just looked at the filing and you can bet your britches it was filed at 2pm. What a disgraceful example of word-smithing. I suppose it was the middle of the night somewhere, but certainly not at the court where it was filed.
Posted by: fabrication | May 31, 2009, 7:51 pm 7:51 pm
Hmmm…I don’t know how the comments ended talking about Iran/Israel. Anyway the bottom line here is Obama is a bald faced liar. He has in fact has merely picked up where bush left off. No one submits anything in the middle of the night in order to enhance”transparency”.
They do it to evade the scrutiny of the mmedia and the public. They do it because they know what they are doing is wrong.
Posted by: ddearborn | May 31, 2009, 7:52 pm 7:52 pm
Obama is a liar. Most of the press dismisses the truth each and every single day- this is the vindication of George Bush, and it’s just killing most of them.
Posted by: drjohn | June 1, 2009, 9:22 am 9:22 am
“Yep, just looked at the filing and you can bet your britches it was filed at 2pm.”
That date is also June 3, 2009, people. That’s not when it was filed.
Try again!
Posted by: drjohn | June 1, 2009, 9:30 am 9:30 am
Yep, just looked at the filing and you can bet your britches it was filed at 2pm
————————————-
I’ll keep my britches, thank you very much. You may have an issue though!
Try READING it…..
the June 3rd 2PM date/Time is the next hearing before Judge Walker!
It says right at the top of each page…Filed 5/29/2009.
Posted by: Mike_C | June 1, 2009, 11:47 am 11:47 am
“this is the vindication of George Bush”
President Obama contends he inherited the nation’s ongoing economic problems and that his actions since taking office are not to blame. Sixty-two percent (62%) of U.S. voters agree with the president that the problems are due to the recession that began under the Bush administration.
Just 27% of voters say the problems are being caused more by the policies Obama has put in place since taking office, according to a new Rasmussen Reports
Posted by: Ryan C | June 1, 2009, 5:57 pm 5:57 pm
You know your position is statistically grim when to refute your statement Ryan quotes from Rasmussen.
Posted by: Skip | June 1, 2009, 6:31 pm 6:31 pm