"We are asking for information that the government is required by law to provide, but the Bush Administration is refusing to even acknowledge these torture documents exist, let alone release them. This is another effort to exempt the CIA from legal limits -- from judicial review to congressional oversight - it's an affront to U.S. law and the torture ban that Congress recently passed," said Gitanjali Gutierrez, a CCR staff attorney who represents detainees who have experienced harsh interrogation and torture.

According to CCR's filing, the two documents in question are a Department of Justice memorandum "specifying permissible interrogation methods" and a Presidential Directive "granting the CIA authority to establish detention facilities outside the United States." CCR is arguing that U.S. law requires the CIA, at a minimum, to acknowledge the existence of the documents. According to CCR, the CIA's argument that mere acknowledgment of the documents would reveal intelligence methods is belied by the fact that government officials have previously publicly discussed the CIA's role in detentions and interrogations. The brief also notes the documents could play a "potentially pivotal role" in current debates about U.S. treatment of detainees around the world and the proper conduct and oversight of the CIA.

The brief was filed late last night against the CIA on behalf of CCR, the American Civil Liberties Union, Physicians for Human Rights, Veterans for Common Sense and Veterans for Peace, and oral arguments for the case are scheduled for June 12. A similar Freedom of Information Act lawsuit filed by these organizations resulted in the release of all the names of detainees in Guantánamo Bay, after years of delay by the U.S. government.

CCR has also filed successful FOIA cases that led to the release of many prisoner abuse documents from the FBI and the DOD.

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