Wait...if Obama is not defending DOMA, then he has not defended abuse of State Secrets either

[AlexanderProgressive]

One argument against the view that President Obama defended DOMA in a recent court fight is that the Department of Justice does not consult with the President in reaching its conclusions.

But was Senator Feingold wrong in giving the President a "D" in his handling of the invocation of State Secrets?
Was Dan Froomkin, progressive Washington Post columnist, wrong when he entitled a story "Obama's State Secrets Overreach"?
Has Glen Greenwald been wrong in criticizing the President over his Justice Department's behavior, as shown in this February article entitled "The 180-degree reversal of Obama's State Secrets position"?
Was the New York Times wrong in titling a story: "Obama Backs Off a Reversal on Secrets"?

Have all these prestigious journalists and congressmen been getting it wrong? Should they have altered their headlines and stories so as to blame "attorneys" instead?

I take the side of no one. I just want to know once and for all if Obama has been unfairly blamed for the State Secrets abuse or not. Let's start a debate.

[NYC_SKP]

1. Yes, yes, yes, and...

...yes.

Feingold, God love him, is being a good progressive in his criticism and pressure on the administration.

But do you really think that the two of them discussing what to do, off the record and both of them working with the same set of facts, would so strongly disagree?

No, I think it's politics between a progressive senator and a thoughtful president.

BTW, Feingold used a term, "Preventive Detention" in a similar posturing criticism of the president--or did he?

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/documents/2009/05/feingold-letter-to-obama-on-preventive-detention.php?page=1

http://www.progressive.org/node/131023

But did Obama OR Feingold ever use that term?

I love both of them.

:patriot:

[Political Tiger]

2. What part don't you understand?

The Department shall provide the White House with information about pending civil investigations or cases only when doing so is important for the performance of the President's duties and appropriate from a law enforcement or litigation perspective. Except with respect to national security matters, all initial communications that concern or may concern a pending civil investigation or a case pending at the trial level should take place only between the Office of the Counsel to the President and either the Office of the Deputy Attorney General or the Office of the Associate Attorney General, All initial communications that concern or may concern a civil case pending at the appellate level should take place only between the Office of the Counsel to the President and the Office of the Deputy Attorney General, the Office of the Associate Attorney General, or the Office of the Solicitor General. If appropriate with regard to a particular case or investigation, the Office of the Counsel to the President and the senior Justice Department official with whom the White House is dealing will design and monitor a process for ongoing contact between the White House and the Justice Department concerning that particular matter.

http://www.usdoj.gov/usao/eousa/foia_reading_room/usam/title1/doj00032.htm

[Name removed]

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[sandnsea]

4. Two different defendants

State Secrets directly involves power of the Executive branch - DOMA doesn't.

However, allowing courts to make these legal decisions isn't a bad idea.