the Obama administration has repeatedly refused to comply with court orders to allow the plaintiff in the case — a now-defunct Islamic charity that says it was spied on without a warrant by the federal government — to use the document that apparently proves it was indeed the victim of the Bush administration’s warrantless wiretapping program.
This case has outraged advocates for open government (and attentive bloggers like Marcy Wheeler and Glenn Greenwald), who say it’s a direct violation of Obama’s promises not to classify or otherwise conceal government information unnecessarily.
We’ll be watching to see how the judge responds to this latest government maneuver, but the ultimate question — who gets to decide whether a private party suing the government “needs to know” particular classified information — could well end up before the Supreme Court.
clipped from: washingtonindependent.com