Uncommon Commentary #134: It's Justice, Not Kaplan, that Ought to Be Blind

Tanzanian miner Hussein Abebe sold five crates of dynamite to terrorist Ahmed Ghailani, who is to be tried in a civilian court for conspiring in the 1998 bombings of the US embassies in Tanzania and Kenya; Abebe was to be, in the words of the prosecution, a "giant witness", but Judge Lewis Kaplan has barred him from testifying, on the grounds that the CIA learned of his existence by using "coercive tactics" against the defendant which allegedly equated to torture.  Given the mendacity of the Left's campaign against Bush Administration "torture," there is plenty of reason to doubt that the interrogative techniques employed by US intelligence really amounted to that; even if they did (and if it were actually unethical to torture someone whose status as a terrorist is beyond question—see here), this would be cause for censuring the government, not for ignoring testimony that has a bearing on the case.
Judge Craplan tried hard to make his ruling sound noble: "The court has not reached this conclusion lightly.  It is acutely aware of the perilous nature of the world in which we live.  But the Constitution is the rock upon which our nation [sic] rests.  We must follow it not only when it is convenient, but when fear and danger beckon in a different direction.  To do less would diminish us and undermine the foundation upon which we stand."  If the US Constitution really forbids us to exercise common sense in a situation such as this, then it's a rock that's in danger of tumbling down the slope that leads to Hell, taking our "nation" with it.
Is this the best that we can expect from the judicial system that Emperor Nerobama's regime wants to put on display for the rest of the world, which is the reason that it has given for bestowing upon foreign terrorists the protections to which they would be entitled if they were US citizens?  Legitimate evidence obtained illegally is still evidence.  Justice ought to be blind, but not deaf, dumb, or brainless.