Well, now the White House wants the Supreme Court to hold on a case that directly addresses detainee photos. The court is scheduled to act on the case on Tuesday. Here's the solicitor general, Elena Kagan, the government's top lawyer in Supreme Court cases, pleading with the court to delay and let Congress sort out this messy little affair:
If Congress completes action on a provision in a new Homeland Security funding bill, Kagan wrote, “it now appears likely the Secretary of Defense will have legal authority to exempt the photographs at issue in this lawsuit from disclosure under FOIA [the Freedom of Information Act].”
Freedom is on the march. Wait, that was our last president. I need to be more recent. How about, "sunlight is the best disinfectant." Yes, that's our current commander in chief.
And just a reminder what kind of heinous acts our government is covering up in the name of national security:
The photographs at issue were taken by service members in Iraq and Afghanistan and were part of criminal investigations of alleged abuse. Some pictures show "soldiers pointing pistols or rifles at the heads of hooded and handcuffed detainees," Solicitor General Elena Kagan said in the appeal to the high court.
In one, "a soldier holds a broom as if 'sticking its end into the rectum of a restrained detainee,'" Kagan said, quoting from an investigation report prepared by the Pentagon. Two investigations led to criminal charges and convictions, she said.
Kagan is the former dean of the Harvard Law School. One wonders what her years of meticulous legal training are now informing her conscience to do. I know she's the government's lawyer and has to defend what the government wants her to, but that's no excuse for continuing to do so.
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