In an unprecedented move, the USG has asserted the 'law enforcement privilege'(NYT)/'state secrets' doctrine(JDF) to block the progression of a lawsuit between private parties. The plaintiff, a Greek shipping company owner named Restis, alleges that the defendant, a group called UANI (United Against a Nuclear Iran), defamed him when it accused him of evading sanctions against Iran.
When Restis filed for discovery of UANI's donor list and other material, the USG moved to quash the suit under the grounds of state secrets. But how does a private, albeit influential, group such as UANI have USG secrets?
In a previous case where it appeared that a private non-US-governmental agency had obtained access to USG secrets, the USG prosecuted the wrongdoers:
When federal investigators found in 2005 that two senior staffers with the American Israel Public Affairs Committee had received classified information from a midlevel Pentagon official, they pressured the pro-Israel lobby to fire the two men. Then they prosecuted the pair, and the Pentagon official who gave them the information under the 1917 Espionage Act.
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But the government’s use of this power in the UANI case, legal experts say, stands out from others for several reasons. For one, it’s the first time anyone can recall the government stepping in to completely kill a case between two private parties rather than to stop specific witnesses from being called to testify or specific documents from being subpoenaed. Also unprecedented is the government’s refusal to offer any explanation.
”I can’t remember another time in history when the government tried to blow up a lawsuit between two private parties without telling us why, even in broad, general terms,” Ben Wizner, director of the American Civil Liberties Union’s privacy and technology division, told Mother Jones magazine.
http://forward.com/...
The NYT is also on this case:
Founded in 2008, United Against Nuclear Iran is run and advised by a long list of former government officials. Its advisers include Joseph I. Lieberman, the former Democratic senator from Connecticut; Frances Townsend, the former homeland security adviser to President George W. Bush; Dennis B. Ross, a former Middle East adviser to both Republican and Democratic presidents; and former intelligence chiefs from Israel, Germany and Britain.
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It is not unusual for lawyers to demand documents and lob unfounded allegations, particularly in the early stages of a case. The threat of embarrassing disclosures can make both sides eager to settle before a trial. But the Justice Department’s court appearance lent credibility to the idea that larger, hidden interests were at stake.
One of the government lawyers on the case, Anthony J. Coppolino, specializes in national security litigation. He has defeated challenges to the Bush administration’s warrantless wiretapping program and President Obama’s authority to launch a drone attack on an American citizen.
If the Justice Department formally asserts the law-enforcement privilege this week, Judge Ramos has said he will have “a great number of questions” about how and why.
“I am particularly concerned,” he said in April, “that the defendants are able to utilize certain information in its public statements, and then not have to answer to their actions on the basis of a privilege.”
http://www.nytimes.com/...
About the "larger, hidden interests:" United Against a Nuclear Iran (UANI) exists to perpetuate sanctions against Iran, allegedly on the basis that Iran's nuclear activities pose a threat to the world, or at least the region. It has long been my belief that a ginned-up fear of an Iranian nuclear-weapons program is maintained and lovingly massaged mostly to provide the justification for the sanctions, a convenient way of assuring that Iran does not rise geopolitically to its natural place in the region.
The information sought by the plaintiff and protected by the USG may well illuminate the inner workings of the sanctions program, and who has had input on its implementation. And we can't have that.
The hearing on the USG's motion is set for early next month.