Sour Grapes
Of course we're Fair and Balanced!

2004-08-31

DOJ censors Supreme Court



After reading this posting at The Memory Hole [via blogdex]I've never been happier to be a card-carrying member of the ACLU. And I don't understand why so many people don't understand why John Ashcroft terrifies some of us.


Ostensibly, they [the Department of Justice (DOJ)] 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."



The mind reels at such a blatant abuse of power (and at the sheer chutzpah of using national security as an excuse to censor a quotation about using national security as an excuse to stifle dissent).


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