Transparency: ‘Secret law’ weakens democracy

Elizabeth Goitein, The New York Times, October 18, 2016, makes a case against ‘secret law’ enacted when, for instance, the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISC) makes interpretations of the Patriot Act that become part of the act. Presidential orders for the use of lethal force against overseas terrorists are also binding ‘law.’ Goitein, an expert on liberty and national security, argues that the standard for secrecy should be more specific than vague national security and that law made by small groups of officials can be ill-advised and poorly formulated. Secret law also prevents the public from holding the government accountable for its excesses.

The American Civil Liberties Union and the Yale Law School filed a motion with the FISC petitioning the court to release its opinions with “novel or significant interpretations” of law enacted between 9/11 and the passage of the USA Freedom Act in 2015. The 2015 Freedom Act required the FISC to publish significant opinions, but the public has not been granted access to court rulings before 2015. (ACLU, October 19, 2016, by Patrick Toomey and Andrew Udelsman)