Here's One For The Good Guys

A federal appeals court in San Francisco has rejected a claim by the Obama Administration (echoing that of the Bush administration) that "national security would be compromised if a lawsuit brought by the Oregon chapter of the charity, Al-Haramain Islamic Foundation, was allowed to proceed."

The lawsuit is related to the Bush Administration wiretapping scandal. This case revolves around papers that the Bush Administration turned over to the defunct charity; the the papers allegedly "showed illegal wiretapping by the National Security Agency." The charity returned the papers to the government. The Department of Justice has called the papers "state secrets;" lawyers for Al-Haramain say that they need these papers to show harm, that they were subjected to an illegal wiretap.

It's not clear how the Congressional retroactive immunity would play into the case, should the documents be released, as the appeals court has ruled.

The tactic being used is similar to something known as greymail. When charged with a crime, a government employee claims that classified records are necessary to the defense.

EmptyWheel argues the significance of the court's ruling. The clock is ticking: the five-year statute of limitations runs out on 10 March 2009.