The courts don't have the authority to order evidence to be unsealed if it has already been classified by the government, argued Justice Department attorneys during a hearing last week on a joint lawsuit filed by 16 media organizations seeking to publish videotapes showing force feedings at the U.S. prison in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
"We don't think there is a First Amendment right to classified documents," Justice Department lawyer Catherine Dorsey told the D.C. Court of Appeals, according to The Intercept.
The Intercept reported: "Chief Judge Merrick Garland characterized the government's position as tantamount to claiming the court 'has absolutely no authority' to unseal evidence even if it's clear the government's bid to keep it secret is based on 'irrationality' or that it's 'hiding something.'"
Dorsey agreed with Merrick's assessment, saying, "That is our position." A Freedom of Information Act request would be the more appropriate way to obtain the tapes, Dorsey suggested.
Last June, First Look Media, parent company of the The Intercept, was joined by 15 other media organizations in filing a lawsuit seeking 28 videos of Syrian detainee Abu Wa'el Dhiab being repeatedly force fed at Guantanamo Bay prison. The videos supposedly show Dhiab being forcefully removed from his cell and fed through a tube inserted through his nose into his stomach, according to the Guardian.
University of Minnesota doctor Steven Miles testified last year that the practice was abusive, with forcefeedings sometimes being conducted when they weren't necessary and with non-medically accepted methods, according to The Washington Post.
Dhiab was held for 12 years without charges or trial before finally being released to Uruguay last December.
"There is a public right at stake," David Schultz told the court on behalf of the media outlets. He added that the videos show "illegal conduct by government employees."
The government continued to maintain that releasing the videos could harm national security. Federal lawyers made the same argument last year, but U.S. District Judge Gladys Kessler rejected that notion and ordered the release of the video. Kessler then granted a stay to that order so that the government could appeal to the D.C. court, reported The Intercept.
