Through The Looking Glass

There was apparently a spirited circuit court hearing yesterday in San Francisco, with Bush Administration lawyers arguing that the President is a king and has the power literally to block your eyes from reading.

Lawyers for the Bush administration encountered a federal appeals court Wednesday that appeared deeply skeptical of a blanket claim that the government's surveillance efforts cannot be challenged in court because the litigation might reveal state secrets.

"The bottom line here is the government declares something is a state secret, that's the end of it. No cases. . . . The king can do no wrong," said Judge Harry Pregerson, one of three judges from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit who grilled administration lawyers at length over whether a pair of lawsuits against the government should go forward.

Deputy Solicitor General Gregory G. Garre was forced to mount a public argument that almost nothing about the substance of the government's conduct could be talked about in court because doing so might expose either the methods used in gathering intelligence or gaps in those methods.

"This seems to put us in the 'trust us' category," Judge M. Margaret McKeown said about the government's assertions that its surveillance activities did not violate the law. " 'We don't do it. Trust us. And don't ask us about it.' "

At one point, Garre argued that courts are not the right forum for complaints about government surveillance, and that "other avenues" are available. "What is that? Impeachment?" Pregerson shot back.

Man, I wish I was in that room.

This state secrets privilege has been completely abused by many Administrations, but particularly this one. Their entire argument seems to be "you can't allow this clear case of illegal spying to go through because then the people we illegally spied upon would know about it!"

It's just completely divorced from reality and from the American system. So of course, watch the right-wing Supreme Court sanction it. (They're getting the case no matter what the SF Appeals Court says, anyway)