Mark Udall has been a on civil liberties protections and it seems he will spend his remaining weeks in the U.S. Senate pursuing those admirable aims.
Udall that he will “keep all options on the table” in his goal of revealing more details about the nature of this nation’s interrogation practices in the wake of 9/11 and in curbing the government’s appetite for spying on ordinary Americans.
We hope he does, including the option of using, if necessary, his special immunity as a senator to reveal classified information when speaking on the floor. Such immunity is rarely invoked, but this is one instance when it would be justified.
Udall has been front and center in to get the Obama administration to release a report by the Senate Intelligence Committee on the CIA’s interrogation practices after 9/11.
Among them is waterboarding, a near-drowning technique that clearly is a form of torture and is designed to elicit information from those subjected to it.
Udall, a member of the Intelligence Committee, has pressed to declassify as much of the report as possible, but has met with pushback from the administration.
One of the ways he is considering to get that information out before he leaves office is to read it into the record on the floor of the Senate. Such action would involved the so-called “speech or debate” clause of the U.S. Constitution, which offers immunity from prosecution.
There are other options as well, and we hope Udall and others are successful in persuading the White House to agree to reasonable redactions so the report, which runs more than 6,000 pages, can be released.
Reforms of the manner in which the National Security Agency does its business also are a priority of Udall’s, and we hope he is able to get such legislation through the lame-duck Congress. It is long overdue.
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