Tuesday at the High Court: Can The Government Keep Its Secrets?

[WSJ Law Blog]

Sorry, it's a state secret. Throughout the years, plaintiffs suing the federal government have grown accustomed to hearing that line used as a rationale for keeping certain information close to the vest.



he “state secrets” doctrine gets used most often in cases involving sensitive issues pertaining to national security.

But the scope of the doctrine will get its stiffest test in years before the U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday in a case involving aerospace giants Boeing and General Dynamics.

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[forum_admin]

Boeing and General Dynamics contend the government violated their constitutional rights by invoking the state secrets privilege to trump their claims in a long-running contract dispute.

The contractors sued the government, contending the project’s failure was the Pentagon’s fault. Among other claims, they argued the government failed to provide essential information about stealth technology, which they said they needed to make their case in court. The government refused to turn it over, asserting that so doing would endanger national security.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit agreed the government could withhold the data under the state-secrets privilege. In an appeal, the contractors argued the government should have to pay for invoking the privilege, since it denied them the chance to make their argument in court.