Patriot Act documents to remain government secrets, rules federal judge
An open society is a free society, and the media’s primary job in helping to maintain a free, open society is to shine the light of scrutiny on government. In doing so the media lives up to its (supposed) mantra of afflicting the comfortable and comforting the afflicted. The only thing that could possibly get in the way of that mission is, of course, the government, through one of its surrogates in the federal court system.
In an effort to shed some light on how the government interprets its own PATRIOT Act, New York Times reporter Charlie Savage filed suit against the federal government last fall to get some answers after a Freedom of Information request was shot down by the Justice Department, which said the interpretation was “classified.”
His suit followed several earlier warnings by Democratic Sens. Mark Udall of Colorado and Ron Wyden of Oregon, members of the Senate Intelligence Committee, who said in a letter to Attorney General Eric Holder Jr. in September they believe the public has been misled about how the government is interpreting the law.
Harold
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