> You offered the laser-sharp insight that hey, people can ignore the rule of law, so don't say they can't! It's a semantic distinction and I am taking it to the extreme where while it is still valid, it is ridiculous.

I don't know. Do remind me, how many US government officials got punished after being caught doing illegal warrantless wiretaps?

You can ignore the rule of law, as long as you are the government, that's not an issue as long as you can bleat "national security" enough times.