Friday, November 16, 2007
I Am My Own Grandpaw
Each element of the song, I Am My Own Grandpaw, makes perfect sense. The young fellow marries a widow, the fellow's father falls in love with the widow's daughter, and so on. The conclusion, of course, is preposterous.
So it is with the State Secrets Law. It is illegal to divulge state secrets. It is necessary to marshall the evidence at a trial. But if the evidence is a state secret, voila! The trial becomes virtually illegal. Using a state secret to commit a crime is a get-out-of-jail-free card. How long before there's a black market in secrets for criminals? Did I say preposterous?
I can point to the exact place in the Constitution where our right to a fair trial is guaranteed, but where in the Constitution are state secrets protected?
So it is with the State Secrets Law. It is illegal to divulge state secrets. It is necessary to marshall the evidence at a trial. But if the evidence is a state secret, voila! The trial becomes virtually illegal. Using a state secret to commit a crime is a get-out-of-jail-free card. How long before there's a black market in secrets for criminals? Did I say preposterous?
I can point to the exact place in the Constitution where our right to a fair trial is guaranteed, but where in the Constitution are state secrets protected?
Technorati Tags: Constitution, Corruption, FifthAmendment, Freedom
Comments:
Post a Comment
