A Federal Appeals Court in Washington, D.C. has ruled that even purposely breaking the law is OK if you’re a government employee. Plain and simple.
In a ruling that shakes the very foundations of the American justice system, the three judge panel states: “Government employees who engage in questionable acts, such as abusing prisoners at the Guantanamo Bay facility or engaging in defamatory speech, cannot be held individually liable if they are carrying out official duties”.
“The conduct, then, was in the defendants’ scope of employment regardless of whether it was unlawful or contrary to the national security of the United States,” Appeals Court Chief Judge David Sentelle wrote in the opinion.

Jump to Reuters Article: Appeals court upholds CIA leak lawsuit dismissal

Update: U.S Attourney General stated on Tuesday that ““Not every wrong, or even every violation of the law, is a crime.” No criminal prosecutions are planned for former Justice Department officials accused of allowing politics to influence the hiring of prosecutors, immigration judges and other career government lawyers, Attorney General Michael Mukasey said Tuesday.
Jump to AP Article via Yahoo: Mukasey: No prosecutions in Justice hiring scandal

I am still undecided whether this is authoritarianism or totalitarianism. In any case, it is absolutely at odds with American ideology.