Are Federal Officials Above the Law?

[Rocky Apache]

Are Federal Officials Above the Law?
By Jacob Hornberger

Published 04/05/10


A federal judge's ruling in a case challenging the Bush administration's infamous and illegal domestic surveillance case will
likely demonstrate, once again, the hypocrisy and deceit of Barack Obama
and his merry band of liberal statists.


When Obama was a presidential
candidate, he emphasized to American
voters that President Bush's warrantless surveillance of Americans was
"unconstitutional and illegal."



But once Obama got into office, he silenced his tune, especially in
lawsuits that were brought by victims of this criminal action. Like
Bush's Justice Department,
Obama's Justice Department took the position
that people’s lawsuits should be dismissed on grounds of "national
security" because, they said, if such cases were allowed to proceed,
national-security secrets would be revealed.



Yeah, such secrets as the identities of federal agents who violated
federal criminal statutes as well as the identities of the federal
higher-ups who ordered them to do so! Can't you just see the entire
nation collapsing if information like that were to be disclosed to the
public?



How convenient is that? All one has to do to protect federal criminals
is simply cite the magic term "national security" and all the criminal
dirt is swept under the carpet. Too bad Richard Nixon and the other
Watergate
conspirators didn’t claim "national security" to keep their
criminal wrongdoing secret. Or did they?



In any event, this week a federal judge in one of the surveillance cases
declared Bush’s surveillance scheme unlawful, a ruling that places
Barack Obama and his Justice Department in an interesting position.



Do they let the ruling stand? Doing so would be consistent with Obama's
campaign position, which mirrored that of the judge.



Or do they appeal the ruling, thereby exposing, once again, the rank
hypocrisy of the Obama administration?



Of course, all this is occurring in the context of a civil suit. The
question with respect to the criminal-justice system is: Why isn't the
Justice Department securing federal grand-jury indictments against
federal officials who, everyone concedes, violated federal criminal
statutes?



After all, the Justice Department is always overeager to enforce such
stupid laws as antitrust, insider-trading, and possession and
distribution of illicit
drugs against the American
people. Why do
federal officials who committed felonies with an illegal surveillance
program get a pass? Are federal officials considered better than
ordinary Americans?



For once, the Obama administration should do the right thing. Not only
should it not appeal the adverse ruling in the surveillance case, it
should also take the side of all other victims of such illegal conduct,
arguing that they are entitled to full relief in the courts. If Bush,
Cheney, and any their cronies wish to intervene in such suits to defend
their illegal scheme, so be it, but this would be a good place for Obama
to finally begin breaking away from Bush's massive infringements on
civil liberties.



Equally important, Obama's Justice Department should initiate a federal
grand jury investigation into the entire illegal surveillance
scheme,
subpoenaing all the records of those who committed the offenses and all
the records showing who was victimized. Grand jury
indictments and
federal criminal prosecutions should ensue. What better opportunity to
show that no one, not even powerful and influential federal officials,
is above the law?