The conference team working on the Iraq supplemental is charging full steam ahead with a package that retains the REAL ID Act rider in full -- meaning that the section that would give Homeland Security the power to waive all law in the course of securing the borders is soon to be the law of the land. As Inside EPA is reporting, the section giving DHS this extraordinary exemption from the rule of law is proceeding with no real change, only a modification to the court stripping clause that would clarify that courts do have jurisdiction over constitutional claims. Don't be fooled; the Supreme Court has long held that we must have access to the courts to pursue constitutional claims. Decisions to waive all law will be effective upon publication in the Federal Register. The upshot of this change is that we will have the chance to read, every day, which law Homeland Security decided to ignore. Given the irredeemable ugliness of the whole enterprise, this change is cold comfort.