In a District Court ruling last week, the judiciary proved once agai, how impotent and subservient to unchecked executive power it is when a federal court judge invoked the state secrets privilege and dismissed most of a suit against Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) agents, who infiltrated and spied on mosques in Orange County in California. The ruling essentially gave cover to the FBI, which had lied to the community about engaging in covert operations against the Muslim community. And yet the foundation of the state secrets doctrine is based on government fraud.

The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled against an Islamic charity that claimed it was the target of warrantless wiretapping by the National Security Agency when the Bush administration was in power. The ruling overturned the awarding of damages and attorneys’ fees to the charity, and found the government is immune to claims of warrantless wiretapping.

Classified Woman: A Memoir is a stirring book that takes us through the injustice Edmonds has endured starting during the Bush Administration. In her job as a language specialist, she finds out the FBI has been covering up information related to the September 11th attacks. She figures out the FBI has been penetrated by a Turkish translator named Melek Can Dickerson and her husband, who have engaged in illegal transactions that involve shielding potential targets from intelligence operations. She realizes any investigation of Dickerson would “shine a light on major cover-ups initiated by the State Department ” and expose crimes committed by “high-placed US officials.” She feels uneasy but knows she cannot turn back. And so she decides to pursue appropriate channels to let the proper people know all this but is forced to choose between having a career and pursuing accountability.