The State Secrets Protection Act, , ("SSPA") was a bill first proposed in the

U.S. Senate The United States Senate is the upper chamber of the United States Congress, with the House of Representatives being the lower chamber. Together they compose the national bicameral legislature of the United States. The composition and powe ...

during the

110th Congress The 110th United States Congress was a meeting of the legislative branch of the United States federal government, between January 3, 2007, and January 3, 2009, during the last two years of the Presidency of George W. Bush. It was composed of ...

by Senators

Kennedy Kennedy may refer to: People * John F. Kennedy (1917–1963), 35th president of the United States * John Kennedy (Louisiana politician), (born 1951), US Senator from Louisiana * Kennedy (surname), a family name (including a list of persons with t ...

Leahy Leahy is a Canadian folk music group. The eight band members, all from the Leahy family of 11 siblings, are from Lakefield, Ontario and have been touring Canada and internationally since the early 1980s, when they were known as The Leahy Family ...

, and Specter on January 22, 2008. Senator Kennedy put out a press release explaining the rationale behind introducing the SSPA. Hearings were held before the

Senate Judiciary Committee The United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary, informally the Senate Judiciary Committee, is a standing committee of 22 U.S. senators whose role is to oversee the Department of Justice (DOJ), consider executive and judicial nominations, a ...

on February 13, 2008. On Thursday, April 24, the committee approved the proposed legislation, voting 11–8 to send the bill to the full Senate for consideration. In a March 31, 2008 letter to Senator Leahy,

Attorney General In most common law jurisdictions, the attorney general or attorney-general (sometimes abbreviated AG or Atty.-Gen) is the main legal advisor to the government. The plural is attorneys general. In some jurisdictions, attorneys general also have exec ...

Michael B. Mukasey Michael Bernard Mukasey (; born July 28, 1941) is an American attorney and former federal judge who served as the 81st Attorney General of the United States from 2007 to 2009. Born in New York City in 1941, Mukasey attended Ramaz School, gradua ...

expressed strong Bush Administration opposition to the legislation, saying in his letter that the bill "would needlessly and improperly interfere with the appropriate constitutional role of both the Judicial and Executive branches in state secrets cases; would alter decades of settled case law; and would likely result in the harmful disclosure of national security information that would not be disclosed under current doctrine." Numerous scholars and non-governmental organizations (including the

American Civil Liberties Union The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) is a nonprofit organization founded in 1920 "to defend and preserve the individual rights and liberties guaranteed to every person in this country by the Constitution and laws of the United States". T ...

, the

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, the

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, and the

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) issued responses to the Attorney General's letter refuting his criticisms of the bill. These scholars and organizations noted that current laws surrounding State Secrets allow much room for abuse, and claimed that taking a new approach would not jeopardize security in any manner because each case would be left to the discretion of US courts (who have acted in good faith with regard to national security in the past). The SSPA legislation was initially proposed in the

in response to the government's assertions of the

State Secrets Privilege The state secrets privilege is an evidentiary rule created by United States legal precedent. Application of the privilege results in exclusion of evidence from a legal case based solely on affidavits submitted by the government stating that court ...

in cases challenging the constitutionality of several of the Bush administration's national security programs, including the warrantless wiretapping, rendition and interrogation programs. Similar legislation was also introduced in the House, , during the 110th Congress. Leading members of the

of the

111th Congress The 111th United States Congress was a meeting of the legislative branch of the United States federal government from January 3, 2009, until January 3, 2011. It began during the last weeks of the George W. Bush administration, with th ...

have joined to re-introduce the ''State Secrets Protection Act'', , ("SSPA"), a bill that provides guidance to federal courts considering cases in which the government has asserted the

. Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman

Patrick Leahy Patrick Joseph Leahy (; born March 31, 1940) is an American politician and attorney who is the senior United States senator from Vermont and serves as the president pro tempore of the United States Senate. A member of the Democratic Party, ...

(D-Vt.), Ranking Member Arlen Specter (R-Pa.), and Committee Member

Russ Feingold Russell Dana Feingold ( ; born March 2, 1953) is an American lawyer and politician who served as a United States Senator from Wisconsin from 1993 to 2011. A member of the Democratic Party, he was its nominee in the 2016 election for the same U.S ...

(D-Wis.) joined with former Committee Chairman and Member Edward Kennedy (D-Ma.) to introduce the bill on Wednesday, February 11, 2009. Similar legislation, , was also introduced in the House on the same day.

References

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External links

* William G. Weaver & Danielle Escontrias
Origins of the State Secrets Privilege
68, Feb. 10, 2008, (unpublished manuscript) *

* Classified Information Procedures Act *

Federal Tort Claims Act The Federal Tort Claims Act (August 2, 1946, ch.646, Title IV, 28 U.S.C. Part VI, Chapter 171and ) ("FTCA") is a 1946 federal statute that permits private parties to sue the United States in a federal court for most torts committed by person ...

Proposed legislation of the 110th United States Congress Proposed legislation of the 111th United States Congress United States government secrecy