The Blog

The Obama Administration and State Secrets

5:34 PM, Sep 23, 2009 • By JOHN MCCORMACK
Single Page Print Larger Text Smaller Text Alerts

A friend emails:

According to the new memorandum issued by Attorney General Holder, the Obama Administration will use the long-established "state secrets privilege" to dismiss lawsuits "only when doing so is necessary to protect against the risk of significant harm to national security."

In other words, it's okay for terrorists and radical left-wing groups to use the courts to "harm" national security -- they just can't do it to "significantly" harm national security.

And, of course, it's up to President Obama and AG Holder to determine when "harm" becomes "significant." I can't say that I find that fact to be very reassuring.

More by John McCormack