Source:
http://www.thememoryhole.org/feds/justice_redaction.htm
The Justice Department tipped its hand in its ongoing legal war with the
ACLU over the Patriot Act. Because the matter is so sensitive, the Justice
Dept is allowed to black out those passages in the ACLU's court filings that
it feels should not be publicly released.
Ostensibly, they would use their powers of censorship only to remove
material that truly could jeopardize US operations. But in reality, what did
they do? They blacked out a quotation from a Supreme Court decision:
"The danger to political dissent is acute where the Government attempts
to act under so vague a concept as the power to protect 'domestic security.'
Given the difficulty of defining the domestic security interest, the danger
of abuse in acting to protect that interest becomes apparent."
It's hard to imagine a more public, open document than a decision written by
the Supreme Court. It is incontestably public property: widely reprinted
online and on paper; poured over by generations of judges, attorneys,
prosecutors, and law students; quoted for centuries to come in court cases
and political essays.
Yet the Justice Department had the incomprehensible arrogance and gall to
strip this quotation from a court document, as if it represented a grave
threat to the republic. Luckily, the court slapped down this redaction and
several others. If it hadn't, we would've been left with the impression that
this was a legitimate redaction, that whatever was underneath the thick
black ink was something so incredibly sensitive and damaging that it must be
kept from our eyes.
< snip >
http://www.thememoryhole.org/feds/justice_redaction.htm
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