Government By And For The Powerful

From Kate Mewhiney

Last week, a federal appeals court ruled that Vice President Cheney is not be required to disclose the details of the meetings held to form the administration's energy policies. The case, brought to court by the Sierra Club and Judicial Watch, reached the Supreme Court last spring but was sent back to the lower courts.

The suit was filed because the two groups believe that officials in the energy industry were involved in the meetings and influenced decisions made by Cheney's panel, the National Energy Policy Development Group. The Sierra Club, a liberal environmental organization, and Judicial Watch, a conservative legal organization, argued that because of their involvement, under the Federal Advisory Committee Act, the names of the energy officials should be released to the public.

The Court disagreed, ruling 8-0 in Cheney's favor.

It was a decisive victory for the Bush administration, enforcing its argument that they are not obligated to release the names of individuals with whom they consulted or divulge the details of policy meetings.

This decision came on the same day that the REAL ID Act was passed in the Senate, and now needs only the president's signature to become law. The act, which was attached to an $82 billion military spending bill, calls for uniformities in state-issued driver's licenses.

The REAL ID Act is being touted as another weapon in the War on Terrorism. Supposedly, it will make it more difficult for terrorists (and immigrants) from "abusing the asylum laws of the United States." The act has many flaws, among them the invasion of privacy that will result from the new IDs.

In order for officials to check the validity of the new IDs, the information contained within them will have to be entered into a national database. This database will allow sensitive personal details to be called up easily by employees in several fields, like airports and the DMV. The security risks there are enormous, not to mention the high probability of computer hackers breaking into such a comprehensive database.

This bill won't make us safer. It will only make our personal information more widely accessible.

The fact that these two events took place on the same day is at best ironic, and at worst a very scary look at where things are headed. The REAL ID Act forces the American people to give sacrifice privacy. But the American President and his Administration are permitted, with the full support of the Courts, to determine our national policies behind closed doors.