What are they hiding?
October 11, 2004
We're all used to seeing redactions in Department of Justice [sic] fillings. We're usually told that the court papers need to have sensitive information kept from the public eye. Usually, we're told that national security requires it. And, we generally believe them.
But Professor Heller from The Yin Blog has evidence that maybe DOJ's redacting information has more to do with keeping us from thinking, rather than protecing us fro our enemies. For example, in one brief, DOJ redacted this information:
"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."
That block quote comes directly from a (publically-available) U.S. Supreme Court case. What is DOJ really trying to hide? What is DOJ trying to prevent? What is DOJ really trying to accomplish?
I'm afraid that the quote may give us the answers we seek. The DOJ might be saying:
We justify our actions based on national security concerns. But we really seek to abuse those who would publically dissent.