The Constitution Project: Legal Experts Urge Senate to Reform State Secrets Privilege
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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
February 13, 2008
10:29 AM
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CONTACT: The Constitution Project
media@constitutionproject.org
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Legal Experts Urge Senate to Reform State Secrets Privilege
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WASHINGTON, DC - February 13 - Today the Constitution Project applauded the Senate Judiciary Committee for calling expert witnesses to testify on "Examining the State Secrets Privilege: Protecting National Security While Preserving Accountability." Since September 11th, the executive branch has repeatedly asserted that this privilege prevents citizens from challenging federal policies - like the extraordinary rendition and torture of German citizen Khaled El-Masri and the warrantless NSA spying program - in court.
Among those testifying today was Louis Fisher, a constitutional law specialist at the Law Library of Congress and member of the Constitution Project's Coalition to Defend Checks and Balances. Fisher urged members of the Committee to take up legislation that would reform the privilege, telling them that "Congress has a duty to protect the health of a political system that depends on separation of powers, checks and balances, and safeguards to individual rights." Also testifying was Patricia Wald, former Chief Judge of U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit and member of the Coalition to Defend Checks and Balances.
"The executive branch has abused the state secrets privilege - a tool meant to protect actual national security secrets - to hide evidence that might prove embarrassing and to block challenges to illegal government programs," said Sharon Bradford Franklin, senior counsel at the Constitution Project. "Reform of this oft-misused privilege is needed to properly safeguard national security information and protect access to our courts. Chairman Leahy and Ranking Member Specter should be applauded for their efforts to bring this privilege back in line with our system of checks and balances."
The Liberty and Security Committee and Coalition to Defend Checks and Balances - bipartisan initiatives of the Constitution Project - previously issued a report calling for legislative reform of the privilege. The statement recognized that the government must have some ability to restrict the disclosure of sensitive information, but criticized the breadth of the assertions of the privilege, as well as the government's opposition to any review by a neutral judge.
The full "Reforming the State Secrets Privilege" report can be viewed here.
To learn more about the work of the Constitution Project's Liberty and Security Committee and the Coalition to Defend Checks and Balances, visit http://www.constitutionproject.org.
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