February 19, 2008 by lonbud

Pass the Fork, Please.

Today the U.S. Supreme Court declined an opportunity for a peek at the man behind the curtain, refusing to certify for appeal a case brought by the American Civil Liberties Union on behalf of numerous Muslim lawyers, journalists and other American citizens, who argued the existence of the National Security Agency’s warrantless eavesdropping program rendered them unable to perform their jobs.

Notoriously decided on the merits in favor of plaintiffs’ claims by Federal Circuit Court Judge Anna Diggs Taylor in August, 2006, the ruling in ACLU v. NSA was overturned and the case dismissed by the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, whose 3 judge panel ruled 2-1 last year that, because the plaintiffs could not prove their communications had been monitored, they lacked standing to claim harm under the program.

As usual, Glenn Greenwald writes very plainly about what is going on and what are some of its implications.

For me, the takeaway from Glenn’s piece today would read:

In a minimally functioning Republic, when political leaders are accused of concealing wrongdoing, [the legislature] investigates, uncovers what happens, and informs the people.

When political leaders are accused of breaking the law, courts decide whether that occurred.

None of the branches of the U.S. government do that any longer. They do the opposite: they not only fail to perform those functions, but they affirmatively act to block investigations, help the conduct remain concealed, and ensure there is no adjudication.

When it comes to ensuring the NSA spying scandal specifically remains forever uninvestigated, secret, and unexamined, telecom amnesty will be the final nail in this coffin, but it is merely illustrative of how our political culture now functions.