am_i_demon

It seems from news reports and summaries of litigation that the Department of Justice has become particularly combative and obstructionist in their arguments regarding national security issues such as drones, indefinite detention, torture, preemptive war, and now NSA spying. Is this the strategy they have always employed in civil liberties litigation or was there a sudden strategy shift after 9/11?

Can you shed some light on what it's like to litigate against the DOJ and how (if at all) it has changed over recent years?

Were the Clinton years different? Or were there just fewer civil liberties suits back then?

Edit: spelling.