Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA) wants to scare off Justice Dept lawyers from professionally addressing the Gitmo detainee issue. Spencer Ackerman reports:

In the latest bit of brazen slander from the right, Republican Senators are trying to invent a scandal about Justice Department lawyers who — horror — represented Guantanamo detainees. You know, provided the representation that the Rehnquist and Roberts Supreme Court has repeatedly ruled those detainees are entitled? And which even the military commissions provide for? Instead, there’s this McCarthyite tactic of calling Justice Department lawyers the “Gitmo Nine,” a name that oh-so-cleverly suggests that those lawyers were themselves detained at Guantanamo.

To reiterate: Republicans have no actual desire to seriously address national security issues. If the Democrats find their balls, maybe they can take a shot at closing out this shameful chapter of American history.