The present administration has closed our courtroom doors, in lower courts as well as the Supreme Court, 39 times since 2001 with the "state secrets" barrier more than double the average in the past 24 years.

Right now is a unique window of opportunity to end the federal government's decades-long stranglehold on research into marijuana's potential as an FDA-approved prescription medicine. On May 15, 2007, DEA Law Judge Mary Ellen Bittner issued an Opinion and Recommended Ruling to DEA in favor of Prof. Craker's application to grow research-grade marijuana at the University of Massachusetts--Amherst. Prof. Craker's facility would end NIDA's decades-long monopoly on the supply of marijuana that can be used in FDA-approved research, and is the focal point of the struggle to bring medical marijuana before the FDA to evaluate whether it meets federal standards for safety and efficacy as a prescription medicine.

The anti-Real ID amendment is backed by two Montana Democrats, Max Baucus and Jon Tester, who say the digital ID cards represent an unreasonable government intrusion into Americans' private lives. In April, Montana became one of the states that has voted to reject Real ID.

"This was a real victory for Montana and the American people," Tester said, after the Senate vote to kill their amendment failed to muster a majority. The unsuccessful vote to table it was 45-52.

In the latest setback for the Bush Administration, a federal appeals court slapped the President down for violating the constitutional rights of a U.S. resident through use of the questionable and discredited "military tribunals."