Posted by
Always To The Right on Friday, April 10, 2009 2:42:02 PM
The Bush administration got excoriated by the Left for its expansive
use of the state-secrets doctrine. Barack Obama and other Democratic
presidential hopefuls pounded Bush for its use. In fact, that was one
of the principal components of Hope and Change — a shift away from
secrecy and back to the “rule of law,” although no one has shown how
Bush actually broke any laws in the first place. Apparently, Obama agrees, and as Jake Tapper reports, has decided to expand the Bush practice on state secrets
I’ve covered this, er, change over the 80 days of the Obama presidency. First, Obama’s DoJ filed an emergency brief in February maintaining the Bush argument on the state-secrets doctrine. In March, he argued for a privilege that expanded on what Bush claimed.
At the time, I predicted a vast silence from the Left, with only a
couple of truly consistent voices opposing Obama on it, and figured
Glenn Greenwald would be among the few. Respect him or hate him, agree
or disagree, Glenn’s consistent, and he has pilloried Obama for his reversal on this point.