WASHINGTON - April 28 - In anticipation of President Obama's 100th day in office, U.S. Senator Russ Feingold today released a "100 Day Rule of Law Report" to examine the new administration's efforts to reverse the Bush administration's eight year assault on the rule of law.  Feingold assessed the steps the Obama administration has taken thus far to address recommendations made by forty organizations and experts in connection with a Senate Constitution Subcommittee hearing chaired by Feingold on September 16, 2008, entitled "Restoring the Rule of Law."  President Obama received high marks for several actions he has taken in his first 100 days in office, including his executive orders to close the facility at Guantanamo Bay, ban torture and increase transparency.  However, Feingold's review finds the Obama administration's invoking of the state secrets privilege "troubling." 

"Since coming into office, President Obama has faced enormous challenges including an economy in crisis and military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan," Feingold said.  "Those issues obviously have to be on the front burner for him, as well as Congress.  No one thought President Obama was going to undo eight years of reckless policies in just a hundred days.  But President Obama has also committed to restore the rule of law and end one of the darkest periods in our constitutional history, and the hundred-day mark offers a good opportunity to assess those efforts."

Feingold's report is based on the policy recommendations generated by his September hearing and outlined in a December 10th letter to then President-elect Obama.  Among those making the recommendations were John Podesta, co-chair of President Obama's transition and other current or pending Obama administration nominees, and Harold Koh, Dean of the Yale Law School and President Obama's nominee to be State Department Legal Advisor.  The recommendations were grouped into four general categories:  separation of powers; excessive government secrecy; detention and interrogation policy; and domestic surveillance and privacy.  

"I am generally pleased with what I have seen so far, particularly in the areas of transparency and detainee and interrogation policy," Feingold said.  "The president has taken swift and decisive action to make a clear break with the previous administration on those fronts, including the release of the previous administration's memos authorizing torture, which were a horrific abuse of the rule of law.  I remain troubled, though, by the administration's invoking the state secrets privilege three times in its first one hundred days, which highlights the urgent need for the state secrets legislation I joined Senators Leahy, Specter, Kennedy and others in introducing.  I am also taking a wait and see approach to this administration's efforts on domestic surveillance and privacy.  Fixing problems in this area will take congressional action but the administration will have opportunities to show its support for the rights and privacy of Americans later this year when Congress is expected to take up the PATRIOT Act's reauthorization."

Feingold's review can be found at:  http://feingold.senate.gov/ruleoflaw