Rendition and Torture: Review State Secrets

Supreme Court Asked to Review State Secrets, Torture Case

December 8, 2010 - The Supreme Court is being asked to review a lawsuit a lower court had dismissed against a Boeing subsidiary accused of helping the CIA transport detainees to secret foreign prisons where they were allegedly tortured.

The appeal to the high court concerns a September decision by the San Francisco–based 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which cited the Obama administration’s evocation of the state-secrets privilege as grounds for dismissing the case. The lawsuit was brought by five foreign nationals who claimed the CIA, working with other governments, operated a so-called “extraordinary rendition” program to gather intelligence.

Ruling 6-5, a panel of the Circuit Court had ruled it was bound by a 1953 Supreme Court precedent requiring judges to dismiss cases if litigating them might expose government secrets and imperil national security. {read rest}