This afternoon the appellate court threw out the Obama Justice Department's attempt to support the Bush administration's sweeping argument that state secrecy should be extended to cover all court cases (not just over foreigners, but over Americans as well) in the Jeppensen case. Glenn Greenwald (at Salon.com) goes on to say:

"Critically, the court went on to note that the Government's interests in maintaining secrecy "is not the only weighty constitutional values at stake." Quoting the Supreme Court's language in Boumediene -- which in 2008 declared unconstitutional the Military Commission Act's attempt to abolish habeas corpus -- the court today noted that equally imperative for the court is to preserve "freedom's first principles [including] freedom from arbitrary and unlawful restraint and the personal liberty that is secured by adherence to the separation of powers."

It was completely bizarre and against everything that Obama said during the election, but typical of executive encroachment. If they were decent, they would stop, but it will likely be appealed. The price of liberty is eternal vigilance, even against such a nice photogenic guy.

yours,

Peter T.