From Charles Dickens's Bleak House we learned that some litigation can continue forever, enriching only the lawyers on both sides.  In a case still pending in federal court in California –  Jewel v. NSA – we now are learning that even highly meritorious litigation against the government can be dragged out by government lawyers until the plaintiffs' lawyers run out of money. The Jewel case was filed in 2008.  It was sponsored by the Electronic Frontier Foundation as a challenge to the NSA's dragnet surveillance of internet communications.  The twists and turns of this case demonstrate how difficult it can be to force federal judges to confront the unconstitutionality of illegal actions by federal agencies – when the agency's defense is "national security." In 2010, then-district judge Vaughn Walker of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California held that the plaintiffs did not have standing to sue...(Read Full Article)