proof of censoring decisions they don't like under natsec

[Sunder]

http://www.thememoryhole.org/feds/justice_redaction.htm

>>> Anybody who has read many official documents.including those making 
headlines in the last year or more.has seen plenty of redactions (those 
portions that are blacked out or otherwise made unreadable). This, we're 
told, is for legitimate reasons, such as "national security" or 
"protecting intelligence sources and methods." But now we have absolute, 
incontrovertible proof that the government also censors completely 
innocuous material simply because they don't like it.

The Justice Department tipped its hand in its ongoing legal war with the 
ACLU over the Patriot Act. Because the matter is so sensitive, the Justice 
Dept is allowed to black out those passages in the ACLU's court filings 
that it feels should not be publicly released.

Ostensibly, they would use their powers of censorship only to remove 
material that truly could jeopardize US operations. But in reality, what 
did they do? They blacked out a quotation from a Supreme Court decision:

    "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 such a blatant abuse of power (and at the sheer chutzpah 
of using national security as an excuse to censor a quotation about using 
national security as an excuse to stifle dissent).

It's hard to imagine a more public, open document than a decision written 
by the Supreme Court. It is incontestably public property: widely 
reprinted online and on paper; poured over by generations of judges, 
attorneys, prosecutors, and law students; quoted for centuries to come in 
court cases and political essays.

Yet the Justice Department had the incomprehensible arrogance and gall to 
strip this quotation from a court document, as if it represented a grave 
threat to the republic. Luckily, the court slapped down this redaction and 
several others. If it hadn't, we would've been left with the impression 
that this was a legitimate redaction, that whatever was underneath the 
thick black ink was something so incredibly sensitive and damaging that it 
must be kept from our eyes.

Now we know the truth. Think about this the next time you see a black mark 
on a public document.


----------------------Kaos-Keraunos-Kybernetos---------------------------
 + ^ + :"Our enemies are innovative and resourceful, and so are we.  /|\
  \|/  :They never stop thinking about new ways to harm our country /\|/\
<--*-->:and our people, and neither do we." -G. W. Bush, 2004.08.05 \/|\/
  /|\  :                                                             \|/
 + v + :    War is Peace, freedom is slavery, Bush is President.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------