Homeland Security Sec and Contractors to be above the law

[MSgt213]

WAIVE GOODBYE. A few months back I worried about Congress developing a taste for legislation that strips federal courts of jurisdiction over any old subject. It's a common tactic on hot-button issues; liberals used it to safeguard the Reconstruction Acts after the Civil War and labor issues before the Supreme Court gave its blessing, while House Republicans have recently brought it out for show on the Pledge of Allegiance and same-sex marriage. But since when is it standard practice to slip such provisions into construction projects?

Section 102(c) of the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996 … is amended to read as follows:

“(c) Waiver. —

“(1) In general. — Notwithstanding any other provision of law, the Secretary of Homeland Security shall have the authority to waive, and shall waive, all laws such Secretary, in such Secretary’s sole discretion, determines necessary to ensure expeditious construction of the barriers and roads under this section.

“(2) No judicial review. — Notwithstanding any other provision of law (statutory or nonstatutory), no court shall have jurisdiction —

“(A) to hear any cause or claim arising from any action undertaken, or any decision made, by the Secretary of Homeland Security pursuant to paragraph (1); or

“(B) to order compensatory, declaratory, injunctive, equitable, or any other relief for damage alleged to arise from any such action or decision.”

This is in Rep. James Sensenbrenner's Real ID Act, predicted to pass the House tomorrow. Its primary purpose is to introduce a national ID card; there are certainly good reasons to support that, but how can we reasonably debate it when the actual legislation indemnifies the Department of Homeland Security and its subcontractors from all laws (as the Congressional Research Service repeatedly emphasized (pdf) for anybody who wasn't paying attention)?

http://www.prospect.org/weblog/archives/2005/02/index.html#005449