Supreme Court puts a wrinkle on the State Secrets interpretation

[thewayne]

The Executive Branch has been able to shut down lawsuits by claiming the State Secrets privilege, but the SCOTUS has put an interesting limitation on it. The Feds sued two defense contractors seeking monetary rewards for a failed stealth airplane project, but they wouldn't release secrets that the defendants could use in their defense. SCOTUS ruled that you can't have it both ways: release the secret or you can't get monetary damages.

http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2011/05/state-secrets-stealth-bomber/

Comments

[silveradept]

Huh. That's remarkably fair and even-handed of this court. What happened?