This is just bizarre:

The American Civil Liberties Union disclosed yesterday that it filed a lawsuit three weeks ago challenging the FBI's methods of obtaining many business records, but the group was barred from revealing even the existence of the case until now. The lawsuit was filed April 6 in U.S. District Court in Manhattan, but the case was kept under seal to avoid violating secrecy rules contained in the USA Patriot Act, the ACLU said. The group was allowed to release a redacted version of the lawsuit after weeks of negotiations with the government. "It is remarkable that a gag provision in the Patriot Act kept the public in the dark about the mere fact that a constitutional challenge had been filed in court," Ann Beeson, the ACLU's associate legal director, said in a statement. "President Bush can talk about extending the life of the Patriot Act, but the ACLU is still gagged from discussing details of our challenge to it."

This, along with the recent hearings before the US Supreme Court over the jurisdiction of the military at Guantanamo Bay as well as the secrecy surrounding casualties, is all about the diminishment of checks and balances the US is experiencing now. The argument of the executive branch is that the nation is at war so steps taken in secret are necessary. But when review of those steps is also secret, how is the public to know whether its governance is legal? Further, when the war has no foreseable end or even parameters, how can the public weigh the appropriateness of the continuation of secrecy? Can you have a secret democracy and how long is it sustainable?

Please discuss among yourselves.