Unbeknownst to the vast majority of Americans, the United States Constitution died on Monday, February 9, 2009 after a prolonged illness. The Constitution was put out of its misery by lawyers dispatched by the Obama Justice Department who, although they had the power to resuscitate and reinvigorate the long-suffering principles, chose instead to withhold the necessary remedy. The Constitution was 222 years old.

The Constitution lived a long and sometimes tumultuous life. Drafted in the summer of 1787, it nearly died at birth as the result of a raging conflict over slavery. Though it was saved by what some refer to as a “dirty compromise,” slavery would again threaten the life of the Constitution as one cause of a devastating Civil War from 1861-65. Though again saved, and this time cured of the affliction by President Abraham Lincoln, the lingering effects of slavery would continue to dog the Constitution throughout its life.

Despite this and other unfortunate missteps along the way (the 3/5 rule, the Electoral College, the 18th Amendment) the Constitution proved to be an effective framework for governing the United States for over two centuries. And it withstood some pretty fierce challenges along the way. In addition to the Civil War, it managed to survive several assassinations, one presidential resignation, two impeachments, and 17 additional Amendments above and beyond the Bill of Rights. All the while, it demonstrated remarkable toughness, resiliency and the ability to adapt to changing times and a changing body politic.

The disease that eventually proved fatal to the Constitution was foreshadowed in late 2000, with the Supreme Court’s decision in Bush v. Gore (531 U.S. 98). Though signs were visible for several months thereafter, the specific event that began the Constitution’s long slow decline occurred on September 11, 2001. A brief struggle ensued between reason and power, with power coming out on top due to its nearly unlimited control of the national media.

From then on, the Constitution endured a series of blows from which it ultimately could not recover. Many of the symptoms are by now familiar to most Americans: arrogance, hubris, self-aggrandizement, deception, secrecy, and abuse of power. The physical effects have been no less devastating: an illegal war of aggression that killed thousands of Americans and tens of thousands of Iraqis, hundreds of prisoners illegally detained – many tortured or spirited off to God-knows-where, and the unauthorized and illegal surveillance of law-abiding Americans.

In recent months, many had hoped that the advent of a new administration might signal a return to health for the embattled Constitution, but the president’s newly minted Attorney General put that idea – and the Constitution – to rest this past week. Despite decrying, vehemently and on multiple occasions, the Bush administration’s misuse of the “state secrets” privilege and vowing to create an atmosphere of less secrecy and greater transparency, President Obama has now directed his DOJ to maintain the exact policy of his predecessor.

According to Glenn Greenwald, “What was abusive and dangerous about the Bush administration's version of the State Secrets privilege…was that it was used not (as originally intended) to argue that specific pieces of evidence or documents were secret and therefore shouldn't be allowed in a court case, but instead, to compel dismissal of entire lawsuits in advance… [T]hat [is the] exact version of the privilege that the Obama DOJ yesterday expressly advocated (and, by implication, sought to preserve for all Presidents, including Obama).”

Based on descriptions of the court proceedings published in The New York Times, this appears to be a deliberate, conscious decision made at the highest levels of the Obama administration. For a president who promised the American people an end to “the failed policies of the last eight years,” to embrace this illegitimate strategy is a betrayal of the highest order.

Anthony Romero, Executive Director of the American Civil Liberties Union, says of the decision, “[The] Justice Department stood up in court today and said that it would continue the Bush policy of invoking state secrets to hide the reprehensible history of torture, rendition and the most grievous human rights violations committed by the American government. This is not change. This is definitely more of the same. Candidate Obama ran on a platform that would reform the abuse of state secrets, but President Obama’s Justice Department has disappointingly reneged on that important civil liberties issue. If this is a harbinger of things to come, it will be a long and arduous road to give us back an America we can be proud of again.”

And so the Constitution died quietly, of neglect, succumbing to just the type of malaise predicted by James Madison, who once warned his fellow Virginians that, “a succession of artful and ambitious rulers, may by gradual & well-timed advances, finally erect an independent government on the subversion of liberty.” Surely, that is exactly what has come to pass.

The Constitution is survived by the crumbling remains of the United States of America, a once proud nation no longer able to hold up its head. A former beacon of liberty and hope, the United States now staggers in the darkness like a drunkard; with no light to guide it, no steady course to follow, and no destination short of oblivion.

Remembrances may be made to the ACLU (http://www.aclu.org) or to the civil rights organization of your choice.