Secret Hearings, trials without a defendant or defense attorneys? Right here, in the USA:

John Gilmore describes himself as “a civil libertarian millionaire eccentric.” He has recently garnered headlines because he refuses to show ID when boarding airplanes and is suing the Justice department and Southwest Airlines for not allowing him to travel in the U.S. without “showing papers.”
Some commentators, notably Hiawatha Bray at the Boston Globe don’t have much sympathy:
“The idea that we should be wasting our time arguing over whether it’s right to have to show ID before boarding a plane is too silly to deserve further discussion. I’m not trying to be rude; I just can’t take you [Todd Pinkerton] seriously, or Mr. Gilmore either.”
But Gilmore raised one deep concern in his foray against the Justice department: there appears to be a secret law that is being applied by the airlines, if not the TSA. What is the law? Who made it? How can I comply if I don’t know what it is? In a democracy that believes in the rule of law, this has got to be troubling.
t Gilmore raised one deep concern in his foray against the Justice department: there appears to be a secret law that is being applied by the airlines, if not the TSA. What is the law? Who made it? How can I comply if I don’t know what it is? In a democracy that believes in the rule of law, this has got to be troubling.
So, when the Ashcroft Justice Department demanded that the first hearing of the Gilmore case be held in secret, and that Gilmore and his attorneys be barred from it, things got even weirder, IMHO. This was beginning to sound like a proceeding from some totalitarian regime. The good news, in my opinion, is that the Court denied the DOJ motion.

– Chris Gulker
Memo to Republican Senate contender Tim Michels (running against incumbent Democrat Russ Feingold): The Patriot Act argument will not carry the day…..