In Totten v. United States, 92 U.S. 105 (1876), the U.S. Supreme Court held that public policy forbids enforcing a secret espionage agreement between a Civil War spy and the United States, despite President Lincoln himself allegedly forming the agreement. Courts lack jurisdiction to hear such claims because the litigation process would require disclosing too much sensitive information to the public.
This is known as “state secrets privilege,” because it allows government to deny claims and void agreements for spying. This privilege has been upheld in denying a claim for benefits against the CIA by alleged former agents. See Tenet v. Doe, 544 U.S. 1 (2005) (one of Chief Justice Rehnquist’s last opinions).
- In the video, the ACLU is applauded for their taking on state secrets privilege in the first case in 1953. I believe that was a ruse to deceive the public majority that they were defending the people and fighting for their right to know what the government was hiding, however their entire history proves otherwise as they’ve defended communist / socialist and new world order agendas while rarely defending christian values and with weak, yet highly promoted efforts to advance the illusion that they are fair and balnced.
