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9th Circuit throws out CIA torture lawsuit for national security reasons

Vince Coglianese Contributor
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Five foreign men who say they were kidnapped and tortured by the CIA cannot sue the Boeing Co. subsidiary that helped spirit them away for interrogations because of the risk of secret intelligence matters being exposed at trial, a sharply divided federal appeals court ruled Wednesday.

The decision in the closely watched case was a significant victory for the Obama administration because it recognized a president’s power to protect wartime actions from judicial scrutiny by invoking the state secrets doctrine.

The civil rights lawyer who represented the alleged victims of the Bush administration’s “extraordinary rendition” program said the ruling, if allowed to stand, means the United States has “closed its courtroom doors to torture victims.”

The majority in the 6-5 ruling of the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals “reluctantly” concluded that national security interests in the case were paramount to “even the most compelling necessity” to protect fundamental principles of liberty and justice.

Full Story: 9th Circuit throws out CIA torture lawsuit for national security reasons – latimes.com

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