Contrary to popular belief, the Obama Administration has not expanded, abused, defended, or continued the Bush Adminstration's use of the "state secrets privilege."
What is the state secrets privilege?
“The state secrets privilege is a common law evidentiary privilege that permits the government to bar the disclosure of information if ‘there is a reasonable danger’ that disclosure will ‘expose military matters which, in the interests of national security, should not be divulged.’” Al-Haramain Islamic Found. v. Bush, 507 F.3d 1190, 1196 (9th Cir. 2007) (quoting United States v. Reynolds, 345 U.S. 1, 10 (1953)). The ability of the executive to protect state secrets from disclosure in litigation has been recognized from the earliest days of the Republic. See Totten v. United States, 92 U.S. 105 (1875); United States v. Barr, 25 F. Case 30 (C.C.D. Va. 1807); [additional citations ommitted].
Also, without my agreeing with Wikipedia's take on it, here is Wikipedia's further explanation.
Why am I posting this thread?
To counter a misunderstanding and/or lies. In several Obama threads (especially recently), I've seen the argument that President Obama has done something wrong involving the state secrets privilege. The argument tends to be that the President is continuing to expand the privilege, defending the Bush Adminstration's abuse of the privilege, breaking a campaign promise about the privilege, etc. See, e.g., post, post. These accusations aren't true. The state secrets privilege long predates the Bush Administration. The Bush Administration abused the privilege by citing in a ridiculous number of cases -- including at least one where a federal court has held the government committed fraud in asserting the privilege. President Obama criticized the abuse of the privilege by the Bush Administration and has pledged to rein it the use of privilege.
Some media and bloggers have overreacted to a couple of cases in which the Obama Administration has defended the existence of the privilege or even mentioned it in passing as a "setting off alarm bells." Bullshit.
That's my rant. Any thoughts?
