Secrecy About Secrecy: The State Secrets Privilege June 20, 2018
The Justice Department has not reported to Congress on the government’s use of the state secrets privilege since 2011, the Department acknowledged this week, contrary to…
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CIA Asserts State Secrets Privilege in Torture Case March 9, 2017
The Central Intelligence Agency formally asserted the state secrets privilege this week in order to prevent disclosure of seven categories of information concerning its post-9/11 interrogation program,…
Read moreSome State Secrets Cases May Stay Secret May 23, 2016
A definitive accounting of the number of lawsuits in which the U.S. Government has invoked the state secrets privilege cannot be provided because some of those cases may be too…
Read moreAnother State Secrets Case Ends in Dismissal February 20, 2015
Last week, a federal court dismissed a lawsuit against the Central Intelligence Agency after the government asserted the state secrets privilege and argued that the case could not…
Read moreCourt to Weigh Judicial Approval of “No Fly” Cases February 5, 2015
In a pending lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of the “no fly” list, in which the government has asserted the state secrets privilege, a federal court signaled that it…
Read moreCourt Views State Secrets Too Narrowly, Govt Says January 29, 2015
The scope of the state secrets privilege is again a matter of contention, as government attorneys in an ongoing lawsuit told a judge last week that he had…
Read moreSome State Secrets Cases Are a Secret, Govt Says November 21, 2014
The government has occasionally invoked the state secrets privilege in a legal proceeding without ever publicly revealing that it had done so, government attorneys disclosed in a pending state secrets…
Read moreCourt Denies Motion to Dismiss State Secrets Case October 31, 2014
Updated/corrected below A federal court yesterday denied a government motion to dismiss a pending lawsuit that the Obama Administration said involved state secrets. It appears to be the first…
Read moreState Secrets Claim Challenged in Defamation Lawsuit October 30, 2014
The U.S. Government overreached by intervening in a private defamation lawsuit to assert the state secrets privilege without providing a public explanation or even identifying which agency was asserting the…
Read moreGovt Rebuts Criticism of State Secrets Privilege October 20, 2014
Last week government attorneys submitted 28 documents concerning “watchlisting” procedures to a federal court for in camera review that they said should be protected from disclosure under the state…
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