Tuesday, June 18, 2013

Feds won't budge on public access to drone legal memos

POLITICO




By JOSH GERSTEIN |
6/17/13 3:18 PM EDT

The public has no right to examine classified Justice Department legal opinions on the so-called "targeted killing" of Americans and foreigners, even though President Barack Obama recently acknowledged that the U.S. used drones to kill alleged Al Qaeda operative Anwar Al-Awlaki, the Obama Administration argued in a legal brief filed Friday.
The brief argues that the official declassification, which also included the acknowledgement that three other American citizens have died in such operations outside active combat zones, "should not affect (or be relevant to)" the appeals court's review of a district court judge's ruling that legal memoranda sought by the New York Times and the ACLU were exempt from disclosure under the Freedom of Information Act.
In the brief filed with the New York-based U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit (and posted here), Justice Department lawyers do say that the declassification gives them new leeway to describe the relevant DOJ records in general terms.
"Given recent acknowledgments by the President and other senior officials of the previously properly classified fact that the United States carried out the targeted strike that killed Anwar al- Awlaki, DOJ has now determined that it can provide some limited additional information about classified documents in its possession that are responsive to the ACLU request," says the brief submitted under the names of DOJ Civil Division Chief Stuart Delery and U.S. Attorney Preet Bhahara.


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