The New York Times editorial board registers great delight this morning over Carter-appointed Judge Anna Diggs Taylor’s effort to stop the NSA warrantless wiretapping program. The only question I have after reading their editorial is, why is the Times being so modest? Take this opening paragraph:
Ever since President Bush was forced to admit that he was spying on Americans’ telephone calls and e-mail without warrants, his lawyers have fought to keep challenges to the program out of the courts. Yesterday, that plan failed. A federal judge in Detroit declared the eavesdropping program to be illegal and unconstitutional. She also offered a scathing condemnation of what lies behind the wiretapping — Mr. Bush’s attempt to expand his powers to the point that he can place himself beyond the reach of Congress, judges or the Constitution.
I added the boldface just to highlight the odd use of the passive voice. Curiously, the Times is silent on just who forced the president to admit his alleged “spying.” As a matter of fact, I’m having a tough time remembering myself…
Wait a minute – it’s coming back to me. Bingo! It was the New York Times that forced the President to admit he was “spying on Americans.”
So what ever could account for this modesty from the Times? I don’t recall the paper normally being so reluctant to reflect on its own journalistic excellence. Could it be that combining this crowing editorial along with the Times’ exposé shows that the Times practices agenda journalism, and doesn’t approach the state of Olympian journalistic neutrality that it likes to claim for itself? One can only wonder.
On a separate note, while the Times’ editors are special in many ways, their grasp of constitution jurisprudence is questionable. If you want to fully understand just how dreadful Judge Anna Diggs Taylor’s decision was, read this essay by the Baseball Crank. If Taylor understood the 4th Amendment as well as the Crank does (or as well as any second year law student does, for that matter), the Times would have been denied its victory lap this morning.
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