DC Court Rules US Can Keep Torture Docs Secret

Judge Says Decision Made by President, Congress

A DC district court judge today ruled that the Obama Administration can keep the Senate’s CIA torture report as well as CIA documents regarding torture secret as long as they want.

Judge James Boasberg insists that the question of whether the documents can be public was already decided “by the other two branches of government” and that the courts shouldn’t get involved.

The ACLU has been pushing for the documents, particularly the 6,900-page Senate report, under the Freedom of Information Act. Only a carefully redacted shorter summary of the report was ever released.

Judge Boasberg sought to reassure the public by saying that ultimately it was entirely possible that some administration would release the documents, but insisted it was not a decision to be made by a court.

Author: Jason Ditz

Jason Ditz is Senior Editor for Antiwar.com. He has 20 years of experience in foreign policy research and his work has appeared in The American Conservative, Responsible Statecraft, Forbes, Toronto Star, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Providence Journal, Washington Times, and the Detroit Free Press.