This week, a federal court of appeals declared that "democracies die behind closed doors" and demanded that Attorney General John Ashcroft open up the immigration hearings for suspects connected to Sept. 11 roundups. But wherever the courts open one door, Ashcroft and the Bush administration manage to close another. And so we find ourselves in peril of losing the right to search warrants granted by real judges in real courts, as the attorney general again attempts to drag the Constitution into dark caverns and windowless towers.

This is a good article on its own merit but I want to raise a tangental issue. Slate uses the word "bitch" in this article. Slate. These are the guys who showed up deriding all the pundits like Brock Meeks who claimed that the Internet wanted opinionated journalism in common language rather than the traditional media fare of high brow faux objectivity. Slate obviously gave up on that. At least the net pundits were right about something. :)

Secrets and Lies - Seventy-five little reasons to be terrified of the FISA court. By Dahlia Lithwick