June 2002

Six years now, and the case continues, now with terrorism at a high, the government uses this as its new excuse to why material should be kept classified. In addition to this the government is sealing documents from other court cases closely related to the ones at hand. The case is now in the 9th Circuit court.

Over the years material that wasnt classified was distributed to media, and then made classified. The government was using the method of classifying evidence so it was not admittable in order to tie the case up. However many of the documents that made it to the media also made it to the internet. The plaintiffs are using this as reason the material should be admitted, because once it reaches the internet, how can it be classified?

The judges however arent all taking thier point of view, and the evidence is still yet to be admitted into court. At one hearing, a lawyer for a local Las Vegas newspaper held up a copy of a security manual. One of the items in the "classified evidence" he claimed to have downloaded it from the internet, and that it was widely available.

Ninth Circuit Judge Pamela Rymer however didnt agree with the plaintiffs'. Even after seeing the document she only commented that it could be a fake, or not the same document. Later a new problem arose when the Judges went to review material and found that it had also been classified. The government was coming in after each breifing, and requesting that the entire contents of the breifings be classified.

All the while the same information had already made it to the internet.

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