Word: cases
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...hard to get too excited about the decision, though, for two reasons. First, as great as it was to see a federal judge accuse the Corps of "negligence" and "nonfeasance" and other legally awful behavior, the case actually turned on a technicality of sorts - and may well be overturned on appeal. Believe it or not, the spectacular incompetence of the Corps may ultimately help its defense. And second, even if the Corps does lose on appeal, the resulting embarrassment - and the potential fiscal nightmare for the country - would be unlikely to promote the kinds of changes that would prevent another...
...that's not why the Corps lost this case. The plaintiffs could not sue the Corps for botching flood protection, because Congress gave it "sovereign immunity" to protect its flood-protection projects from that sort of lawsuit. So the suit focused on a canal called the Mississippi River Gulf Outlet, a classic Army Corps navigation boondoggle that was designed as a shortcut for ships to the Port of New Orleans - although ships rarely use it - and ended up instead as a shortcut for hurricanes. The plaintiffs argued that the so-called Mr. Go - which wasn't a flood-protection project...
...feet, still not enough to overtop the most important levees. The canal has carried enough saltwater from the Gulf to destroy an estimated 100 square miles of valuable freshwater wetlands, but that's just a tiny slice of the land-loss crisis. The Corps can still make the case that adequate flood walls would have withstood the extra surge created by Mr. Go - and that the inadequacy of the flood walls is covered by sovereign immunity. In other words: Don't blame our lousy navigation project; blame our lousy flood-protection project! (See video of New Orleans's Ninth Ward...
...case, not everyone will be there for the next evolution. Last Friday, while the President was in Asia, Craig announced his resignation...
...former Senate staffer who has a windowless, low-ceilinged basement office next to the Situation Room - and daily access to the President. On April 15, the day before the extension was set to expire, the President invited eight officers of the CIA's Counterterrorism Center to make their case against release in an Oval Office meeting with Obama. An all-hands, full-dress battle over where to strike the balance between civil liberties and national security was under...