NEW YORK - February 9 - The American Civil Liberties Union will be in court today arguing that its lawsuit should go forward against Boeing subsidiary Jeppesen Dataplan, Inc. for the company's role in the CIA's extraordinary rendition program. The Bush administration intervened in the case, improperly asserting the "state secrets" privilege and claiming the case would undermine national security interests. The lawsuit was dismissed in February 2008, and the ACLU is appealing that ruling. Oral arguments in that appeal are scheduled for today, Monday, February 9 at 9:00 a.m. PST at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit in San Francisco.

"Under the Bush administration, the U.S. government used false claims of national security to dodge judicial scrutiny of extraordinary rendition," said Ben Wizner, an ACLU staff attorney who will argue the case for the plaintiffs. "This case presents the first test of the Obama administration's dedication to transparency and willingness to act on its condemnation of torture and rendition. The administration should unequivocally reject the Bush administration's abuse of the state secrets privilege and permit this case to go forward. Victims of extraordinary rendition deserve their day in court."

Mohamed et al. v. Jeppesen was brought on behalf of five men who were kidnapped and secretly transferred to U.S.-run prisons or foreign intelligence agencies overseas where they were interrogated under torture. Much of the evidence needed to try the case is already available to the public. On Wednesday, Britain's High Court of Justice ruled evidence in the U.K. civil case of one of the plaintiffs, Binyam Mohamed, must remain secret because of U.S. threats to cut off intelligence sharing.

WHAT:
Arguments appealing the dismissal of Mohamed et al. v. Jeppesen in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.

WHO:
Ben Wizner will argue the case for the plaintiffs before Judges Mary M. Schroeder, William C. Canby, Jr. and Michael Daly Hawkins.

In addition to Wizner, attorneys in the lawsuit are Steven R. Shapiro, Steven Watt and Jameel Jaffer of the national ACLU, Ann Brick of the ACLU of Northern California, Paul Hoffman of the law firm Schonbrun DeSimone Seplow Harris & Hoffman LLP and Hope Metcalf of the Yale Law School Lowenstein Clinic. In addition, Margaret L. Satterthwaite and Amna Akbar of the International Human Rights Clinic of New York University School of Law and Clive Stafford-Smith and Zachary Katznelson represent plaintiffs in this case.

WHEN:
Today, Monday, February 9, 2009
9:00 a.m. PST

WHERE:
The James R. Browning Courthouse
3rd floor, Courtroom 1
95 7th St.
San Francisco, CA 94103