Boeing Bounces Back to Court December 15

See other newer references below

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
December 11, 2009
12:24 PM

CONTACT: ACLU
Rachel Myers, ACLU National, (212) 549-2689 or 2666; media@aclu.org
Rebecca Farmer, ACLU of Northern California, (415) 621-2493 x374

ACLU In Court Tuesday In Extraordinary Rendition Case
Government Claiming "State Secrets" To Have Case Against Boeing Subsidiary Thrown Out
SAN FRANCISCO - December 11 - The American Civil Liberties Union will be in federal appeals court in San Francisco on Tuesday, December 15 at 10:00 a.m. PST to argue that a lawsuit against Boeing subsidiary Jeppesen DataPlan Inc. for its role in the Bush administration's unlawful "extraordinary rendition" program should go forward. The government has repeatedly misused the state secrets privilege in an attempt to have the case thrown out. To this day, not a single victim of the Bush administration's torture policies has had his day in court.

The ACLU and the ACLU of Northern California brought the lawsuit in May 2007 on behalf of five men who the CIA kidnapped, forcibly disappeared and secretly transferred to U.S.-run prisons or foreign intelligence agencies overseas, where they were interrogated under torture. The lawsuit charges that Jeppesen knowingly participated in the forcible disappearance and torture of the men by providing critical flight planning and logistical support services to the aircraft and crews used by the CIA to carry out their "extraordinary rendition." The Bush administration intervened in the case, improperly asserting the state secrets privilege to have the lawsuit thrown out, but in April a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit ruled that the government can only invoke the state secrets privilege with respect to specific evidence – not to dismiss an entire suit. The Obama administration's appeal of that decision will be now be heard by an en banc panel of 11 judges.

WHAT:
Arguments in Mohamed, et al. v. Jeppesen, the ACLU's lawsuit against Boeing subsidiary Jeppesen DataPlan for its role in the Bush administration's "extraordinary rendition" program. The government is appealing an earlier ruling allowing the case to go forward.

WHO:
Ben Wizner, staff attorney for the ACLU National Security Program, will argue before an en banc panel of 11 judges from the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals.

WHEN:
Tuesday, December 15, 2009
10:00 a.m. PST

WHERE:
James R. Browning Courthouse, Courtroom 1
95 7th Street
San Francisco, California 94103

###
The ACLU conserves America's original civic values working in courts, legislatures and communities to defend and preserve the individual rights and liberties guaranteed to every person in the United States by the Constitution and the Bill of Rights.

================
Rendition Lawsuit Against Boeing Subsidiary Grows -Re-filed to include two more victims of the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency's extraordinary rendition program. Friday, December 18, 2009 - 7:00pm - 9:00pm. Change That Works http://www.prwatch.org/node/6348 or GO here