Despite Snowden Leaks, Obama Administration Still Asserts State Secrets Privilege

The New York Times reports that the White House has asserted the state secrets privilege in two federal cases pending in California. The plaintiffs are challenging the constitutionality of the National Security Agency's warrantless surveillance programs. "The government said that despite recent leaks by Edward J. Snowden, the former N.S.A. contractor, that made public a fuller scope of the surveillance and data collection programs put in place after the Sept. 11 attacks, sensitive secrets remained at risk in any courtroom discussion of their details — like whether the plaintiffs were targets of intelligence collection or whether particular telecommunications providers like AT&T and Verizon had helped the agency," The Times reports.