Monday, September 15, 2014

Who Is Holder Protecting? Says Private Suit Risks State Secrets

This is pretty outrageous. I have never seen anything like this. It is another expansion of government to protect elite insiders.

NYT explains:
In his first year in office, Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. put new limits on when the government could dismiss lawsuits in the name of protecting national security. Now, in what he has said is likely his final year, Mr. Holder has claimed broad authority to do just that in a case unlike any other.

The Justice Department intervened late Friday in a defamation lawsuit against United Against Nuclear Iran, a prominent advocacy group that pushes for tough sanctions against Tehran. The government said the case should be dropped because forcing the group to open its files would jeopardize national security.

The group is not affiliated with the government, and lists no government contracts on its tax forms. The government has cited no precedent for using the so-called state-secrets privilege to quash a private lawsuit that does not focus on government activity.

The lawsuit, by a Greek shipping magnate, accuses United Against Nuclear Iran of falsely accusing him of doing business with Iran. The businessman, Victor Restis, subpoenaed the group for its donor list and all information it had collected about him. That was when the Justice Department stepped in.

“There is no precedent, literally, for what the government is attempting to do,” said Abbe D. Lowell, a lawyer for Mr. Restis.

1 comment:

  1. I wonder if this UANI is associated with a certain nation that holds some degree of influence in DC. presumably its all a big misunderstand with a document disposal outfit that works out of the same building and you know, the quality of clerical temping these days and we had to read them all to sort them out. yes the document looked official but being mere cogs in DC lobbying wheel we had no idea what the docs were discussing.

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