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Court: Govt. can stonewall FOIA requests
Lawyers for Guantánamo detainees want surveillance records. An appeals court ruled Wednesday that agencies could refuse to confirm or deny the existence of such records for national security.
A federal appeals court in New York ruled on Wednesday that US government agencies may refuse to confirm or deny the existence of records when faced with a Freedom of Information Act request that might disclose sensitive intelligence activities, sources, or methods.
The ruling by a three-judge panel of the Second US Circuit Court of Appeals was in connection with a lawsuit seeking information about whether the US conducted secret surveillance of lawyer communications with detainees at the Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, prison camp.
The FOIA request was submitted in 2006 by 23 lawyers who represent individuals being held as terror suspects at Guantánamo. The request sought records from the National Security Agency (NSA) and Justice Department "obtained or relating to ongoing or completed warrantless electronic surveillance or physical searches regarding, referencing, or concerning…" any of the 23 lawyers.