Bill to change state secrets privilege introduced in House

06/22/12: Secrecy News reports a bill “to provide safe, fair, and responsible procedures and standards for resolving claims of state secrets privilege” was introduced in the House of Representatives this week by Representative Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.) and several Democratic colleagues.  Essentially, the bill would require courts to render an independent assessment of the validity of a government assertion of the state secrets privilege, rather than simply deferring to the claim.  When the privilege is properly asserted, courts would be required to consider the feasibility of introducing non-privileged substitutes for privileged evidence.  Such measures would make it more likely that cases could proceed to adjudication even when discrete pieces of evidence are found to be privileged.