On 21 Jan 2014, at 12:47 , J.A. Terranson <me...@mfn.org> wrote: > Telecom/NSA/*retroactive immunity* ring a bell?
Retroactive acquittal is relatively OK - it is a good thing when applied to the people, for example people have been campaigning for a long time to get all British sodomy convictions quashed even though everyone has now been released, so we more or less have to accept that it *can* be used to clear government agents too, even if politically we shouldn’t approve (at least in specific cases). (For criminal matters, in many jurisdictions the government can simply refuse to prosecute cases against its agents and private prosecutions aren’t permitted in some places, so it doesn’t create any new danger to the public.) Retroactive indictment is the problem, and is far more dangerous.
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