Yeah, I didn't mean to imply I think any of this will hold, or necessarily should hold. Manning's justifications don't make much sense, and I'm guessing tossin

Yeah, I didn't mean to imply I think any of this will hold, or necessarily should hold. Manning's justifications don't make much sense, and I'm guessing tossing out three amendments was just done to ensure anything that might be useful at the contempt hearing was included. (I don't actually know this for sure, but I assume you can't fight a contempt charge with an argument you didn't use initially, just like you can't appeal on a defense you didn't start with. If I invoke the 3rd in court and get shot down, surely I can't then fight my contempt charge with a rationale under the 5th?) At this point, the only thing that seems like an open question is whether the bizarre arguments stem from not having a legal rationale for the refusal, or being in a bizarre legal situation. We've seen enough circular arguments like "you don't have standing to sue for this information, because you can't prove you're affected, because you can't see the information" that I'm not ruling anything out. That said, my first guess is that Manning's team knows none of these arguments will stick, but wants to contest the charge and provoke a debate. One, four, and six certainly look like the amendments I'd pick if I wanted to use the contempt hearing to talk about government overreach.