The new year is barely upon us but things don’t seem to have changed all that much in many quarters.

Phill Kline is no longer Kansas attorney general. Instead, at the behest of a small group of Johnson County Republican leaders he is now Johnson County district attorney. Has he learned from his November defeat? I doubt it. One of his first acts was to fire a number of veteran staff attorneys and a senior investigator without giving a justification.

When the dismissed employees asked the county for a hearing, the county agreed, but Kline refused to participate in the hearing. Thus, the only recourse for the dismissed employees now is to go to court. So, once again, Phill Kline will cost taxpayers money on matters which have little, if anything, to do with his public duties. Instead of prosecuting criminals, he’ll be defending his own actions. At least, this time it will only be the taxpayers of Johnson County who’ll have to pay the bill for his actions.

On the national front, the biggest legal news concerns the Pentagon. It has now been revealed that military intelligence and the CIA have been issuing “national security letters” that, under the Patriot Act, require no judicial oversight, to acquire information on several hundred people suspected of terrorist activity in the United States. What is quite new – and rather alarming – is that these letters authorized domestic surveillance.

Yes, the military and the CIA, both of whom are not supposed to be active in domestic law enforcement, have now begun operations, albeit on a limited scale, in the United States itself and, perhaps, against American citizens. Until now such surveillance has been the virtually exclusive bailiwick of the FBI. One wonders why the military and the CIA have to be involved in these domestic matters when, under the Patriot Act, the FBI and all other U.S. intelligence agencies are supposed to be freely sharing information. Is this one more sign that the Patriot Act isn’t working?

Finally, last week Charles Stimson, the deputy assistant secretary of defense for detainee affairs, challenged the patriotism of those lawyers and law firms who have been providing legal services to Guantanamo detainees. Indeed, he wondered whether corporate clients of these firms might withdraw their business from them because of such unpatriotic activities. Most of the lawyers helping the Gitmo detainees are doing so pro bono, as legal ethics rules demand. To attack them in this way is, to put it mildly, astonishing and deplorable.

Perhaps, Mr. Stimson would also like to suggest that lawyers refuse to defend corporate criminals as well? He seems to have forgotten that our legal system depends on even “bad” people having a lawyer in criminal cases. Not surprisingly, the Pentagon quickly disavowed Mr. Stimson’s remarks, but Stimson has kept his job and, so far, seems to have escaped any censure for his statements. I think that certain folks at the Pentagon need a refresher course in constitutional law, American history and legal ethics. If they offer such a course perhaps Phill Kline could attend as well. It couldn’t hurt.