Three judges in the Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, in New York, ruled unanimously in favor of the government keeping documents about targeted killings from public view.
“We emphasize at the outset that the lawfulness of drone strikes is not at issue,” Judge Jon O. Newman wrote. “This appeal, like the prior one, primarily concerns whether documents considering such lawfulness must be disclosed.”
The ACLU has already decried the ruling and are lobbying for the administration to release more information about their drone killing program.
“We strongly disagree that these crucial legal memos can lawfully be kept secret,” he said. “In a democracy, there should be no room for ‘secret law,’ and the courts should not play a role in perpetuating it, Jameel Jaffer of the ACLU told the New York Times. “The government should not be using lethal force based on standards that are explained only vaguely and on facts that are never published or independently reviewed.”
Judge Newman stated that there is a difference between the Awlaki memos and the current memos they were discussing, as the government had released information regarding their killing operations and waived their right to secrecy, whereas they have been tight-lipped about the Office of Legal Counsel memos which they were currently arguing against releasing.
