How Being A Government Employee Changed My Perspective

In practicing law for the government, I've learned of something called the deliberative process privilege. Think of it as something akin to lawyer-client confidentiality or executive privilege; it's a legal rule that allows the government in most circumstances to keep certain documents from the other side of the lawsuit (when they would normally be entitled to it) if the documents were part of the deliberation that eventually lead to the government making a decision. This also prevents some documents from being released under the Freedom of Information Act. The idea is to encourage free and vigorous debate among government officials without concern that what they say will be used against them....or plastered across the front page of the Washington Post.

So, when the White House released a bunch of documents related to the firing of eight U.S. Attorneys, my first thought wasn't "these people should testify under oath." It wasn't "what do these documents say about the accusation that partisan politics led to the firing of these attorneys?" No, as much as those issues concern me, my first thought was "those documents are protected by the deliberative process privilege! YOU PUNKS JUST WEAKENED MY DELIBERATIVE PROCESS PRIVILEGE BY RELEASING THOSE DOCUMENTS!"

This has nothing to do with whether the firings were wrong or whether White House officials should testify under oath. It doesn't change my opinion about whether certain government officials should be fired by the American people or by Congress (if you get my drift)...it's just that.....dammit, I want my privilege.

Funny how being a partisan swiftly changes one's perspective.