The Government in the darkness act

Glenn Greenwald has a great post up on the government's decision to invoke the State Secrecy Privelege to force the judge to dismiss the suit against AT&T over the NSA wiretaps. The whole thing is worth a read, but this particular passage really jumped out at me:

Unsatisfied with the mere power to unilaterally block courts from obtaining relevant documents while he is in office, President Bush, while the rubble from the World Trade Center was still sitting in lower Manhattan and everyone was distracted by that, had the presence of mind to extend this power to assert the State Secrets Privilege to both his father and to himself for life and even thereafter:

In November 2001 President Bush issued executive order 13233 that would permit former presidents to independently assert the state secrets privilege to bar disclosure of records generated during their tenure.

More than that, the Bush order would make the state secrets privilege hereditary, like some divine right of kings, enabling the heirs of deceased presidents to assert the privilege after their death.

"This is a power heretofore unrecognized either in courts or politics," Weaver and Pallitto observe.

I recall when he did this, but I had no idea how broad the directive was. I assume a new president can issue an executive order nullifying this, if we ever have a new president. But, I'm beginning to really worry that this guy is not going to leave office. If the right to classify documents is hereditary, certainly the office of the president should be too, shouldn't it? So, I can see Bush remaining there until he dies, whereupon his daughters (or his brother) would take over. Of course, that assumes the military would support him.