Buying a Judicial Victory in Congress—and the 14 Characteristics of Fascism Revisited

Glenn Greenwald takes a look at the Democrats' decision to gift telecoms with immunity for helping the government spy on American citizens. I know this is an unusually long excerpt, but it's incredibly important for all of us to understand what's happening here (emphasis original):

Let's just describe very factually and dispassionately what has happened here. Congress -- led by Senators, such as Jay Rockefeller, who have received huge payments from the telecom industry, and by privatized intelligence pioneer Mike McConnell, former Chairman of the secretive intelligence industry association that has been demanding telecom amnesty -- is going to intervene directly in the pending lawsuits against AT&T and other telecoms and declare them the winners on the ground that they did nothing wrong. Because of their vast ties to the telecoms, neither Rockefeller nor McConnell could ever appropriately serve as an actual judge in those lawsuits.

Yet here they are, meeting and reviewing secret documents and deciding amongst themselves to end all pending lawsuits in favor of their benefactors -- AT&T, Verizon and others…

Snip. Continuing on…

The question of whether the telecoms acted in "good faith" in allowing warrantless government spying on their customers is already pending before a court of law. In fact, that is one of the central issues in the current lawsuits -- one that AT&T has already lost in a federal court.

Yet that is the issue that Jay Rockefeller and Mike McConnell -- operating in secret -- are taking away from the courts by passing a law declaring the telecoms to have won ("Senators this week began reviewing classified documents . . . and came away from that early review convinced that the companies had 'acted in good faith' in cooperating with what they believed was a legal and presidentially authorized program"). They are directly interfering in these lawsuits and issuing a "ruling" in favor of AT&T and other telecoms that is exactly the opposite of the one an actual court of law has already issued.

Just read what Bush-41-appointed Federal Judge Vaughn Walker -- operating out in the open, in an actual court of law, with both sides present and in accordance with due process -- ruled when rejecting AT&T's argument that they are entitled to have the case dismissed because they operated in "good faith" [Decision (.pdf) at p. 68]:

[AT&T cannot seriously contend that a reasonably entity in its position could have believed that the alleged domestic dragnet was legal.

Just think about what is really happening here. AT&T's customers sued them for violating their privacy in violation of long-standing federal laws and for violating their Fourth Amendment rights. Even with the most expensive armies of lawyers possible, AT&T and other telecoms are losing in a court of law. The federal judge presiding over the case ruled against them -- ruled that the law is so clear they could not possibly have believed that what they did was legal -- and most observers, having heard the Oral Argument on appeal, predicted that they will lose in the Court of Appeals, too.

So AT&T and other telecoms went to Washington and -- led by Bush 41 Attorney General (and now Verizon General Counsel) William Barr, and in cooperation with their former colleague, Mike McConnell -- began paying former government officials such as Dan Coats and Jamie Gorelick to convince political officials to whom they give money, such as Jay Rockefeller, to pass a law declaring them the victors in these lawsuits and be relieved of all liability -- all based on assertions that a court of law has already rejected. They are literally buying a judicial victory in Congress

And Democrats are not just failing to obstruct this egregious nose-thumbing at the rule of law; they're actively orchestrating it right alongside the GOP.

(Maybe Chris Dodd will be a hero here…? I certainly hope so, but I'm not holding my breath.)

You know, I think it's time to revisit Dr. Lawrence Britt's 14 Characteristics of Fascist Regimes:

1. Powerful and Continuing Nationalism: Check.

2. Disdain for the Recognition of Human Rights: Check.

3. Identification of Enemies/Scapegoats as a Unifying Cause: Check.

4. Supremacy of the Military: Check and check.

5. Rampant Sexism: Checkity-check-check.

6. Controlled Mass Media: Check.

7. Obsession with National Security: Checkaroonie!

8. Religion and Government are Intertwined: Checkellujah.

9. Corporate Power is Protected: How timely—check!

10. Labor Power is Suppressed: Check.

11. Disdain for Intellectuals and the Arts: Check.

12. Obsession with Crime and Punishment: Check.

13. Rampant Cronyism and Corruption: Check and check.

14. Fraudulent Elections: And check.

I'm sorry to say I think that's a checkmate. Fates help us all—because the Dems sure aren't going to.