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NYC judge rejects release of CIA materials to ACLU
A federal judge on Thursday refused to force the public release of CIA methods relating to Sept. 11 detainees who were interrogated harshly, saying the judiciary's authority is limited when national security is at stake.
U.S. District Judge Alvin Hellerstein rejected arguments by the American Civil Liberties Union that it should be able to force the CIA to release names and documents related to the detainees if the methods used by the agency were illegal.
He said to do so would "confer an unwarranted competence to the district court to evaluate national intelligence decisions."
The judge said releasing the documents requested by the ACLU would provide operational details about the application of various interrogation techniques in various circumstances for a particular detainee.
"The difference between the information officially released and the CIA operational records here is different in quality, degree, and kind," Hellerstein said.