By Christopher B. Daly
Is there only one Charlie Savage? The New York Times reporter, who patrols the intersection of national security and legal issues, has no fewer than three bylines in today’s paper. Whew! He is on a tear trying to keep up with — and propel — the cascade of disclosures coming out about the apparatus of the surveillance state.
Savage, a Harvard grad and former editor of the Harvard Crimson, earned his stripes at the Boston Globe,where he won a Pulitzer Prize for reporting that called out President George W. Bush for his abuse of the presidential power to ignore the will of Congress by issuing “signing statements.”
Here are today’s offerings from Charlie Savage (great by-line, btw).
–Chief Justice Roberts has been packing the secret FISA court with conservatives. Hardly a surprise, but it needed to be documented.
–As part of his continuing coverage of the Wikileaks case involving the court martial of Pfc. Bradley Manning, Savage gives us a glimpse of the military’s approach to justice:
While Major Fein made his arguments, reporters watched the trial on a closed-circuit feed at the media center. Two military police officers in camouflage fatigues and armed with holstered handguns paced behind each row there, looking over the journalists’ shoulders, which had not happened during the trial. No explanation was given.
Yikes.
–Savage also shared a byline with legal correspondent Adam Liptak on a piece about the Justice Dept’s plans to enforce voting rights. (BTW, I think the Justice Dept should just lay back and wait for some racist, right-wing legislature to write some horrible law, then sue them so fast their heads spin. That way, minority voters can see who is really on the side — and who is not.)
UPDATE: Just in the last two hours, Charlie Savage struck again: Turns out, the top Pentagon guy in charge of GITMO is stepping down.
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