Back on June 21, President Bush visited Vienna for a summit and, during a Q&A, said of the United States: “We’re a transparent democracy. People know exactly what’s on our mind. We debate things in the open.â€? Today, less than three weeks later, in a demonstration of just how “transparentâ€? and “openâ€? his administration is committed to being, government lawyers sought to quash a lawsuit brought by the American Civil Liberties Union to challenge the controversial NSA domestic surveillance program. For the umpteenth time, the Bush administration used the “state-secrets privilegeâ€? to justify its request, as reported here by the Washington Post:

White House asks for dismissal of NSA wiretap suit

The Bush administration on Monday asked a federal judge to dismiss a lawsuit challenging the National Security Agency’s domestic eavesdropping program, arguing that defending the four-year-old wiretapping program in open court would risk national security.

In arguments before U.S. District Judge Anna Diggs Taylor in Detroit, the American Civil Liberties Union on Monday renewed its call for a court order that would force the government to suspend its program of intercepting without a court order the international phone calls and e-mails of U.S. citizens.

But the U.S. Justice Department has asked federal judges in Detroit and New York to throw out the landmark challenges to the eavesdropping program.

In both cases, the Bush administration has invoked a legal doctrine known as the “state-secrets privilege” that it has used to head off other court action spy programs.

“If the court accepts the state-secret argument, we are truly facing a constitutional crisis in this country,” Michael Steinberg, legal director for ACLU Michigan, told reporters after the hearing.

The ACLU, which filed the lawsuit in January, argues that the NSA wiretaps violate free-speech and privacy rights protected by the U.S. Constitution….

Several individuals and groups — including the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, the American-Arab Discrimination Committee, the Asian American Legal Defense and members of Congress — have filed briefs in support of the ACLU’s claim. [full text]