The Washington Post reports that secrecy rules in the USA Patriot Act prevented the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) from revealing that they had filed a suit challenging that law. From the article:
“It is remarkable that a gag provision in the Patriot Act kept the public in the dark about the mere fact that a constitutional challenge had been filed in court,” Ann Beeson, the ACLU’s associate legal director, said in a statement. “President Bush can talk about extending the life of the Patriot Act, but the ACLU is still gagged from discussing details of our challenge to it.”
This reminds me of an old Wizard of Id cartoon: The king is showing a visiting dignitary around the kingdom. The dignitary asks a passing peasant, “How’s it going?”
“Oh, I can’t complain,” the peasant says.
“Why do you say that?” the dignitary asks.
“It is forbidden,” the peasant replies.
(By the way, I discovered this story by way of Dan Gillmor’s weblog.)
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