Judge's order challenges executive branch secrecy

Source: McClatchy Newspapers

WASHINGTON -- In a highly unusual legal step, a federal judge ordered the government to grant an attorney a security clearance so he can represent a disgruntled former narcotics officer.

The judge's order significantly boosts attorney Brian Leighton's long legal battle on behalf of Richard Horn, a Drug Enforcement Administration veteran whose service ranged from California's San Joaquin Valley to the Burmese jungles. More broadly, the new judicial order challenges the president's customary monopoly in controlling access to secrets.

"The deference generally granted the executive branch in matters of classification and national security must yield when the executive attempts to exert control over the courtroom," U.S. District Judge Royce Lamberth wrote in an order issued late Wednesday.

Already impatient with the Justice Department's handling of a case first filed in 1994, Lamberth gave officials 10 days to grant Leighton and other attorneys the security clearances needed to see "classified and/or privileged information." In doing so, Lamberth underscored the key question involved.

Read more: http://www.miamiherald.com/news/politics/AP/story/1205561.html

A 15 year-old case?
Justice delayed is justice denied.

I feel faint.