Now for a sore spot of mine. The NSA wiretapping program, which is assuredly unconstitutional, cannot be challenged, because the plantiffs cannot prove that they have been or will be personally subjected to this surveilance.
Now, you think, that's simple, simply find someone who has been affected, and have them sue that it's unconstitutional. Whoa, not so fast! The list of who's been affected is classified, and has been ruled a state secret.
So how can you prove that you have standing? The answer is you can't. A nice catch-22 there. You can't prove that you have standing since the list of who might have standing is classifed. You also cannot prove that you do NOT have standing.
A nice comment that I read on Slashdot that I cannot agree with more is below.
Our government was set up on a basis of checks and balances to keep things on the straight and narrow. In a Democracy, however, the governmental checks and balances are tier 2 of the mechanism to keep things in line. The voting populace is tier 1. Without the ability to understand what the government is doing (the information is classified) we are unable to direct the government through elections.We are looking at an example where the checks and balances system is being undermined at the most fundamental level.We seem to be living at the period in American history that future peoples will point to when discussing the unraveling of our Nation.
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