jurisprudence: The Secrets They Keep

How telling the president what he'd like to hear can be good for your career.
By Bruce Ackerman
Posted Tuesday, Dec. 20, 2005, at 1:41 PM ET

The most curious aspect of the burgeoning National Security Agency spying scandal is President Bush's outrage at our discovering it. But it is his secrecy, even more than his extreme claims for presidential power, that should generate our most serious concerns.

Suppose the president's legal position on the spying question were correct and that he actually had the unilateral powers his lawyers say he has. Then it would be especially important for him to exercise this authority publicly and tell us when he was creating a new spying operation. Under this scenario, the only power Americans would have left against presidential abuse is precisely the power to mobilize and insist that Congress rein the president in. By keeping his decisions a secret, the president insulates himself from the last check and balance against excess. This should have no place in a constitutional democracy.