Adumbration

Once more into the breach, I make note of news that members of the secret court charged with oversight to the unconstitutional spying on US citizens find that crimes may have been done by the NSA, even when measured against the lax provisions allowed by legislation and interpreted by this and prior presidents.

I am referring to the story in The Washington Post ("NSA gathered thousands of Americans’ e-mails before court struck down program") and elsewhere (e.g. Time) that chief judge of the secret court, John D. Bates, wrote as early as October 2011 that "For the first time, the government has now advised the court that the volume and nature of the information it has been collecting is fundamentally different from what the court had been led to believe. ... "The court is troubled that the government’s revelations regarding NSA’s acquisition of Internet transactions mark the third instance in less than three years in which the government has disclosed a substantial misrepresentation regarding the scope of a major collection program" (emphasis added).

This seems like a pretty serious charge, and coming from the chief judge of the very court at issue of the violation of law and constitution, should have some weight among the people in government who are charged with upholding the law.  So what is Attorney General Eric Holder doing about this? The news reports only his comments about some no doubt trivial matter in what is otherwise an overwhelmingly prejudiced gerrymandering system. If AG Holder really cared about voting rights equality he could be working to eliminate the use of tortured routes through the country and cities to carve up the spoils among local politicos. 

But if AG Holder cared about the Constitution, the object of his oath of office, the supreme law of the land, he would be preparing charges for the vigorous prosecution all the parties conjoined to the gross violation of the rights of tens of thousands of Americans, no matter how high the trail might lead.