Apparently sometime last year, the Bush administration, in an unpublished legal opinion (which is definitely worth a read), decided that federal employees are no longer entitled to federal whistleblower protection under the Clean Water Act. According to an article by Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility:
The opinion invoked the ancient doctrine of sovereign immunity which is based on the old English legal maxim that “The King Can Do No Wrong.” It is an absolute defense to any legal action unless the “sovereign” consents to be sued.
What in God’s name is going on here? First we’re supposedly fighting to bring “democracy” to the world (*snort*), and now we’re invoking the sovereign rights of the monarch? This, in any context, is absolutely unacceptable. Maybe there’s something I’m missing here – I admit I’m not a big fan of our civil religion here in the states, but give me a break – this runs completely counter to the whole point of establishing the republic in the first place.
One of my favorite lines from the opinion:
It is axiomatic that the Government may not be sued without its consent.
Well, yes… except that the Government, by having a systems of checks and balances and being of the people, by the people, for the people, implicitly gives its consent (in my humble, non-legal opinion, of course). The sovereign immunity claims that follow are even creepier. Yes, I understand that I’m not a lawyer, but it doesn’t take a lawyer to see that this is wrong.
For Christ’s sake, people… even outside of the context of the protections it claims to nullify, this language is scary. In light of Mr. Rumsfeld’s recent terrifyingly fascist speech about fascism which likens all who oppose the will of the government to appeasers of the Nazis, the fact that this kind of opinion is being used to make sure that the people of this country – who deserve to have clean air and water – have no one in government to fight for them and watch the watchers without fear of prosecution and persecution is just one more reason to be very, very afraid of this administration.
Professional computer geek and linguist living in Germany, doing infosec stuff and being the freakiest mother ever.
