For those who may scoff at the possibility of the DoJ or other agencies abusing secrecy in the courts, have a look at this disturbing story.

http://balkin.blogspot.com/#116119665216036725

The author of this is now a law school prof. It is a chilling account of gaming the system to intimidate opposing attorneys in litigation involving evidence designated as secret. Tamanaha makes the following point-

“A thread that runs through this story is that the government actors involved were not necessarily bad people—they were simply doing what they thought was necessary to defend their country, and they used this end to justify their extreme conduct. That’s the problem. When combined with power and with an unwavering conviction in the correctness of one’s conduct, this mindset—which the Bush Administration oozes—can lead to terrible abuses.”

After you have digested this tale, think about the general case. Granting the executive branch the authority to take actions that are not subject to checks and balances, i.e., rendition, is a step in the direction of autocracy. Our elected legislative branch has abdicated their responsibility to apply checks and balances. It is an astounding development. What is to prevent other nations from adopting the same posture? Pull a suspect out of line at customs at the airport and call them an enemy combatant. Now they have no right of habeas corpus. No court can demand that the person be accounted for. They have no right to inspect the evidence used against them. They quietly go to an undisclosed location. Is this America we are talking about? It is now, thanks to the US Senate.

All of this is being administered by people who are cut from a certain kind of cloth. I know a few of them and they tend to be the bane of my life. They are always certain in their judgements. But when they finally cycle out of your life, you see that they were just as prone to error as anyone. There has to be some metaphor for this, some mythic character or an archetype who exemplifies this flaw.