Lanterna Rally

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Published: 2009

Total Pages: 0

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When the Air Force refused to provide the documents to the court, the district court ruled in favor of the plaintiffs on the issue of negligence; the court of appeals subsequently affirmed the district court's ruling.12 The Supreme Court reversed. [...] With respect to the facts at hand, the Court noted that the Secretary of the Air Force had filed a formal assertion of the privilege, and that there was a reasonable danger "that the accident investigation report would contain references to the secret electronic equipment which was the primary concern of the mission." Id. [...] In Reynolds, the Court noted that the necessity of the underlying information to the litigation will determine "how far the court should probe in satisfying itself that the occasion for invoking the privilege is appropriate."22 In the case of Reynolds, the Court noted that the Air Force had offered to make the surviving crew members available for examination by the plaintiffs.23 Because of this al [...] Therefore, because "the very subject matter of [the] action is a state secret,"35 the court was required to dismiss the suit upon the successful invocation of the privilege by the government.36 In contrast, the Ninth Circuit held that the state secrets privilege only excluded privileged evidence from discovery or admission at trial, and did not require the dismissal of the complaint at the pleadin [...] This rule was first enunciated in Totten v. United States, in which the Supreme Court dismissed a breach of contract claim brought against the government by the estate of a former Civil War spy for the Union.39 The Court dismissed the claim noting that "public policy forbids the maintenance of any suit in a court of justice, the trial of which would inevitably lead to the disclosure of matters whi.