Who Guards the Guards?

The 'Yoo Debacle' provides a clear example for why transparency is important in the Executive branch. I would think that 'secret' laws would be unconstitutional, why then would we allow a 'secret' legal basis for the execution of our laws? The Bush administration's refusal to provide Congress with the legal basis for the Executive branch's behavior is tantamount to saying "It's legal because we say so!"

Bush Administration's legal basis for torture, warrantless searches, etc.

Here is a good excerpt:

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As Bradbury makes clear, the legal analysis in these memos, time and again, was just plain bad legal argument. Some of the arguments veer into the bizarre. Consider this concluding passage from a Yoo-Delahunty memo arguing that the president can order warrantless searches (case citations deleted):

The courts have observed that even the use of deadly force is reasonable under the Fourth Amendment if used in self-defense or to protect others. Here, for Fourth Amendment purposes, the right to self-defense is not that of an individual, but that of the nation and of its citizens. If the government’s heightened interest in self defense justifies the use of deadly force, then it would certainly also justify warrantless searches.

Huh? The reasoning goes like this:

Individuals can use deadly force to defend against a deadly attack;

The government can use deadly force to defend the nation against an attack;

Therefore: the government can engage in warrantless searches.

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