home

Federal Judge Tosses Ghost Air Lawsuit

A federal judge in California dismissed a lawsuit filed against a San Jose flight company that alleged the company aided the CIA in transporting detainees to secret overseas prisons. The Court agreed with the Bush Administration that the suit could jeopardize state secrets. The opinion is here (pdf).

U.S. District Judge James Ware in San Jose said he had no authority to decide whether, as three current prisoners and two freed inmates alleged, Jeppesen International Trip Planning colluded with the CIA to violate their rights. The suit instead must be dismissed at the outset because its subject is a secret program that cannot be examined in a public proceeding, Ware said.

Public and confidential declarations filed by CIA Director Michael Hayden show that "proceeding with this case would jeopardize national security and foreign relations," Ware said.

This is the third suit by Ghost Air detainees that has been dismissed.

< The MI/FL Solution | Justice Scalia Defends Torture >
  • The Online Magazine with Liberal coverage of crime-related political and injustice news

  • Contribute To TalkLeft


  • Display: Sort:
    thats disgusting!! (none / 0) (#1)
    by athyrio on Wed Feb 13, 2008 at 10:23:27 PM EST
    just gives a free pass to the Bushies...

    i'm sure if nixon had thought of it, he (none / 0) (#3)
    by cpinva on Thu Feb 14, 2008 at 07:30:03 AM EST
    would have.

    what really bothers me is federal judges who seem so easily cowed by the claim. oh well, when he's spirited away in the middle of the night, perhaps he'll look back on this decision and wish he'd found some way to accomodate those claims, short of dismissal.

    Nixon would have been OK (none / 0) (#4)
    by SWERN on Thu Feb 14, 2008 at 02:45:36 PM EST
    had he not tapped everything.

    The tapes did him in, as soon as they came to light, it was over.  Nixon, unlike these clowns, would have never destroyed evidence, well minus 18 mins.  Without the tapes, Nixon would have served out his term.

    What I am really curious about is what happens next January, either they are going to have to destroy a lot of stuff, or all hell is going to break loose.