Willful Ignorance is now a Legal Defence

Evidently sticking your fingers in your ears and ignoring things you don't wish to hear is now considered a valid legal strategy:

"The White House in December refused to accept the Environmental Protection Agency’s conclusion that greenhouse gases are pollutants that must be controlled, telling agency officials that an e-mail message containing the document would not be opened, senior E.P.A. officials said last week.

The document, which ended up in e-mail limbo, without official status, was the E.P.A.’s answer to a 2007 Supreme Court ruling that required it to determine whether greenhouse gases represent a danger to health or the environment, the officials said."

-- The New York Times

It's times like these that I wonder if our elected officials didn't somehow escape from an elementary school . . .