As I sit here and read up on the news of the world, this disturbs me more than a little. I've been a staunch opponent of the Patriot Act since it first came out for the simple reason that I don't believe that the American judicial system is capable of functioning properly in secrecy. Without the check and balance of public information of some sort, there is no prevention of corruption.
Do you trust the Justice Department to police themselves? I certainly don't... nor do I think that secret courts will be any better. Classification of criminal matters and stripping the rights of US Citizens without due process on the claim of "national security" seems to be a cop-out. Sure, there should probably be a special court designated with privileges to classify some evidence and prevent it from entering public record, but there should also be intense scrutiny of any time where the federal government attempts to conduct any business outside of the public eye, much less the most important business of potentially stripping someone of their liberty or even life.
Posted by Vengeful Cynic at September 8, 2003 05:36 AM