From the
24 June 2003 issue of Secrecy News, I learned that the US Supreme Court Turned Away the Reynolds Challenge. This is a case that I have had some interest in for awhile, although I haven't covered it here.
This case is covered in detail by the
Courier Post Online here are the highlights from the article:
On Oct. 6, 1948, it is now known, Albert Palya flew in a B-29 bomber to test secret electronic equipment. The plane crash killed Palya, three other civilians and five Air Force personnel.
The crash ended Palya's life, but it began a lifetime of questions for his daughter, Judith.
Why did the B-29, the same model plane trusted to deliver the two atomic bombs, disintegrate over the skies of Georgia?
How is it that only four of 13 men aboard were able to parachute to safety?
What information was the Air Force trying to hide when it refused to produce the accident report, even for a federal judge?
Palya's family and the families of the other dead men brought suit against the Government with charges of negligence.
The widows of the three civilian victims of the crash sued the government for compensation in 1949.
They believed the government had been negligent.
But the Air Force refused to permit even a federal judge to review the accident report, citing national security.
Three times the courts sided with the families. Then United States v. Reynolds, named after one of the other families bringing suit, reached the U.S. Supreme Court.
The court ruled that the Air Force could conceal the report, given the government's concern about national security being compromised.
The widows had lost.
Fifty years ago today, the three widows reluctantly accepted a $170,000 settlement, $55,000 less than the judgments the U.S. District Court in Philadelphia had originally ordered.
But beyond the money, the decision effectively established a new law, granting the military unprecedented power to conceal documents that it says can compromise national security. It is considered the most important case on the "state secrets privilege," and essentially allows the military to keep documents secret from anyone, even from federal judges.
This precedent is in heavy use to day as the Government is claiming national security issues in several court cases.
0 comments:
Post a Comment