A closely divided federal appeals court in San Francisco has dismissed a lawsuit seeking damages from a private company that worked with the CIA as part of its "extraordinary rendition" program. The court ruled Wednesday that the government's decision to invoke the "state secrets" privilege means that the case cannot go forward.
Five foreign plaintiffs who were allegedly transported by the CIA to countries such as Egypt and Morocco for interrogation had sued Jeppesen Dataplan, a Boeing subsidiary, which provided flight planning and logistical support services. The five men said that they were tortured by foreign intelligence services working with the CIA and that Jeppesen was a critical player in the agency's rendition program.
After the suit was filed in 2007, the Bush administration invoked the state secrets privilege. Then-CIA Director Michael V. Hayden told a U.S. District Court in a declaration that "the information covered by this privilege assertion reasonably could be expected to cause serious - and in some instances exceptionally grave - damage to the national security of the United States and, therefore, the information should be excluded from any use in this case."
Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. reviewed and endorsed the Bush administration's decision to seek the lawsuit's dismissal on the grounds that the suit would divulge state secrets.
A U.S. District court judge first dismissed the lawsuit. That decision was overturned by a unanimous panel of three appellate judges, who said the privilege could be applied only to selective pieces of evidence and not the entire case. On Wednesday, a full panel of 11 judges on the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit split 6 to 5 in favor of dismissing the lawsuit.