As part of its ongoing skirmish with the ACLU over the Patriot Act, the Justice Department is allowed to redact passages in ACLU legal briefs that ostensibly jeopardize national security. The key word is "ostensibly": as reported by The Memory Hole, in May the DOJ actually redacted a quote from a forty-year-old Supreme Court decision. Here's the blacked-out quote, included in the ACLU's brief as a parenthetical to United States v. United States District Court for the Eastern District of Mich., 407 U.S. 297 (1972):
"The danger to political dissent is acute where the Government attempts to act under so vague a concept as the power to protect 'domestic security.' Given the difficulty of defining the domestic security interest, the danger of abuse in acting to protect that interest becomes apparent."
The mind reels at the irony -- the DOJ invoking national security to censor a quote about the danger of using national security to stifle dissent.
Hmm, that is such an indefensible redaction that I wonder whether it was a mistake! In any event, whether intentional or accidental, it's pretty egregious.
Posted by: Tung Yin | October 10, 2004 at 09:57 AM
I'm trying to decide which was better- this, or the time that redacted PDFs were posted where a simple highlighting of the documents in question allowed you to read what was underneath them.
Posted by: The Angry Clam | October 10, 2004 at 02:51 PM
I gotta steal something from Prof. Brian Leiter. Henceforth, DOJ shall be:
Department of Justice [sic]
Posted by: FN84 | October 11, 2004 at 08:25 AM