Good News: Federal Appeals Court Hits Obama/Bush on State Secrets Reasoning

“According to the government’s theory, the Judiciary should effectively cordon off all secret government actions from judicial scrutiny, immunizing the CIA and its partners from the demands and limits of the law,” ruled Judge Michael Daly Hawkins in the 3-0 decision.

“As the founders of this nation knew well, arbitrary imprisonment and torture under any circumstances is a ‘gross and notorious … act of despotism,’” he concluded.

A major torture renditions case can now proceed-- let's see if it goes anywhere.