Government withdraws reporter subpoenas for NYT after admitting legal errors

When the government is panicked, hurried, and biased, all safeguards are really grasping at straws. You cross your fingers and hope that future governments will be less mendacious.

(Or more to the point: that your fellow citizens will want a government that is less mendacious. If you're in a country with a majority of people who have it out for you, your theoretical rights will only hold out for so long.)