Using secret evidence destroys protections guaranteed by the Constitution. The PATRIOT Act authorizes broader use of secret evidence:
“The case in federal court in Chicago appears to be the first time the government has tried to use secret evidence–which would be shared with the judge but not with the charity or its attorneys–under a provision of the anti-terrorism Patriot Act signed in October by President Bush, legal experts said. …
Roger Simmons, an attorney for Global Relief, said the use of secret evidence to fight the charity’s lawsuit was “a very dangerous legal precedent.” On Thursday, Simmons asked the court to reject the government’s plan.
“It’s completely contrary to anything that’s ever happened in this country,” he said. “The country was founded on the idea of confronting your accuser. If they submit secret evidence or present it to the judge in such a way that we can never see it, we can’t cross-examine and we can never rebut,” he said.
Members of Congress have attempted several times to make the use of secret evidence illegal, and Bush said he would support such a law, but those efforts died after Sept. 11.