On April 30, the Senate’s subcommittee on the Constitution held a vitally important hearing on “Secret Law and the Threat to Democratic and Accountable Government” chaired by Sen. Russell Feingold, D-Wis.
At issue, ignored by the presidential contenders, is a profound change in the very core of our laws. Said witness Steven Aftergood, secrecy expert at the Federation of American Scientists, growing use of secret law “is implicated in fundamental political controversies over domestic surveillance, torture and many other issues directly affecting the lives and interests of Americans...Secret law excludes the public from the deliberative process, promotes arbitrary and deviant government behavior, and shields official malefactors from accountability.”
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