Judge: Gitmo legal documents must be public

Judge orders government to reveal unclassified documents in more than 100 Guantanamo Bay cases
NEDRA PICKLER
AP News
Jun 01, 2009 12:51 EST
A federal judge ordered the United States on Monday to publicly reveal unclassified versions of its allegations and evidence justifying the continued imprisonment of more than 100 detainees being held at Guantanamo Bay.
The Justice Department had been filing unclassified versions of its legal documents under seal, so that they could only be seen by judges, attorneys and government officials.
Department officials described the practice as necessary to protect national security after they discovered that some unclassified records initially filed publicly mistakenly contained some classified information.
Attorneys for the detainees said the secrecy made it harder for them to prepare for upcoming hearings. The Associated Press, the New York Times and USA Today had joined the fight, arguing that the government was keeping valuable information from the public that has a right to monitor the legal process.
U.S. District Judge Thomas Hogan sided with the detainees' attorneys and the media, saying the public has a right to access the records.
The judge ordered the Justice Department to publicly file its unclassified records or show the court what specific information it wants to keep protected, with a colored highlighter, by July 29. "The issue of what to do with the detainees at Guantanamo Bay remains a source of great public interest and debate," Hogan wrote. LinkHere