Secret Documents: Why Classify Legal Memos?The Law Library of Congress is proud to present a new constitutional law item focusing on the State Secrets Privilege. The article is available in its entirety in PDF on our Web site.
Louis Fisher, "Secret Documents: Why Classify Legal Memos?," National Law Journal, July 14, 2008. On March 31, 2008, the Bush administration declassified a legal memo issued five years earlier by John Yoo of the Justice Department. The memo is entitled "Military Interrogation of Alien Unlawful Combatants Held Outside the United States." Although declassified, there is no explanation of when it was classified, why it was classified, and who classified it, all of which is required by Executive Order 12958. The memo consists purely of legal analysis without indicating any matter clearly sensitive and deserving of some level of classification. How can the rule of law be protected when policy is governed by secret legal memos?
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