Tortures

SCOTUS balks at CIA torture report release request

The US Supreme Court has turned down an appeals request from the American Civil Liberties Union seeking to force the CIA to release the full 2014 Senate report about the agency’s use of torture tactics.

In rejecting the appeal, the justices let stand a May 2016 ruling by the DC Circuit court, which held the 6,900-page report prepared by the Senate Intelligence Committee was not subject to the requirements of the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA).

There was no comment from the Supreme Court on ACLU, ET AL V. CIA just its listing under "Certiorari Denied."

“We are disappointed by this major setback for government transparency and accountability. The full report is the definitive account of one of the darkest chapters in our nation’s history, and the public has a right to see it,” Hina Shamsi, director of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) National Security Project, said in a statement. 

“Even though the full report is still secret, government agencies have copies and must use them to ensure that a program on inhuman and unlawful cruelty never happens again.”