White House to ask Supreme Court to review release of detainee abuse photos

By GottaLaff

My original post, here, gives you the details about the photos in question. Now we have this:

The Obama administration is turning to the Supreme Court as it seeks to block public release of photos apparently depicting abuse of suspected terrorists and foreign soldiers in U.S. custody.

Justice Department lawyers late Thursday told a federal appeals court in New York — the same one on which high court nominee Sonia Sotomayor sits — to hold off a ruling ordering release of the material, saying they plan to ask the justices to hear their case.

The government said it would proceed "absent intervening legislation" from Congress.[...]

The Senate last week voted for the Detainee Photographic Records Protection Act, which would limit the reach of the Freedom of Information Act in this instance. The House could adopt a similar provision next month, as part of an omnibus spending bill.

The government has until June 9 to file its initial appeal with the Supreme Court.

Solicitor General Elena Kagan — herself a finalist for the upcoming high court vacancy — told the New York-based appeals court that if Congress passes the disclosure amendment, Defense Secretary Robert Gates could "preclude release under (the Freedom of Information Act ) of the photographs at issue in this case."[...]

Forty-four photos are covered in the ACLU request for release, but others could be released under the earlier appeals court ruling.

The justices would be under time pressure to decide whether to accept the government's appeal for review, before the court recesses for the summer in late June. They would not return until late September, when Sotomayor would join them if confirmed.

Via emails from my BuzzFlash pal, Mark Karlin, copy/paste verbatim:

the problem is even larger. the aclu suit doesn't include all the photos or videotapes in the pentagon's possession

and further than that, most of such visual images were randomly recorded by GIs

remember the CIA destroyed its torture tapes

the issue is not just what happened to end up on a digital camera: it is what was done overall

release of the photos could backfire in the sense that right now people believe that they will reveal the full extent of the horror, which they won't, since murder was part of the end result of torture.

most of the torture that led to murder is not on a visual image.

so if it's not on the photos,the pentagon and CIA will say it didn't happen, even though it is clear that it did.