Mohamed v. Jeppesen Dataplan, Inc.

Mohamed et al. v. Jeppesen Dataplan, Inc., is a case brought by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) on behalf of five victims of extraordinary renditions against Jeppesen Dataplan, Inc., which had provided services that the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) used to perform renditions.

Mohamed v. Jeppesen Dataplan, Inc.
CourtUnited States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
Full case nameBinyam Mohamed, et al., v. Jeppesen Dataplan, Inc.
ArguedFebruary 9, 2009
RearguedDecember 15, 2009
DecidedSeptember 8, 2010
Citation(s)614 F.3d 1070
Case history
Prior history539 F. Supp. 2d 1128 (N.D. Cal. 2008); 579 F.3d 943 (9th Cir. 2009)
Subsequent historyCert. denied, May 16, 2011
Court membership
Judge(s) sittingAlex Kozinski, Mary M. Schroeder, William C. Canby, Michael Daly Hawkins, Sidney R. Thomas, Raymond C. Fisher, Richard A. Paez, Richard C. Tallman, Johnnie B. Rawlinson, Consuelo M. Callahan, Carlos Bea
Case opinions
MajorityFisher, joined by Kozinski, Tallman, Rawlinson, Callahan, Bea
ConcurrenceBea
DissentHawkins, joined by Schroeder, Canby, Thomas, Paez

Background

According to an article that appeared in October 2006 in The New Yorker, the CIA is a Jeppesen customer. The article claims that the company has provided navigational and logistics support to the agency's extraordinary rendition program.[1] The article says Jeppesen provided "flight plans, clearance to fly over other countries, hotel reservations, and ground-crew arrangements" to the CIA. According to the article, an unnamed former employee quoted Bob Overby, Jeppesen's managing director, as saying at a meeting, "We do all of the extraordinary renditions flights—you know, the torture flights. ... Let's face it, some of those flights end up that way... It certainly pays well."[2]

On November 16, 2006, Amnesty International staged a demonstration in front of the company's International Trip and Flight Planning Office in San Jose, California to protest their involvement in the rendition program.[3] In December 2006 representatives of the South Bay Mobilization for Peace and Justice group asked the San Jose City Council to remove a Jeppesen banner from a city skating rink. The group also holds a weekly vigil at the company's offices.[4]

ACLU lawsuit

On May 30, 2007, the ACLU sued Jeppesen on behalf of five plaintiffs who had been tortured in Morocco, Egypt and a United States base in Afghanistan. The suit alleged that, since 2001, Jeppesen provided support for at least seventy flights for the CIA's secret extraordinary rendition program, transporting prisoners overseas to be tortured.[5] The suit was dismissed in February 2008 on a motion from the United States government, on the theory that proceeding with the case would reveal state secrets and endanger relations with other nations that had cooperated.[6][7]

On September 8, 2010, in a 6–5 en banc ruling, the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit affirmed the dismissal of the suit,[8][9] and the ACLU filed an appeal with the Supreme Court in December 2010.[10]

On May 16, 2011, the Supreme Court declined to review the decision of the Ninth Circuit to dismiss the case.[11]

References
  1. Jane Mayer (October 30, 2006). "Outsourcing: The C.I.A.'s Travel Agent". The New Yorker. Retrieved February 2, 2011.
  2. Sean Belcher (October 15, 2007). "Declaration of Sean Belcher". Archived from the original (PDF) on March 6, 2008. Retrieved February 9, 2009.
  3. Demonstration at Jeppesen Corporation in San Jose, California. Amnesty International. November 17, 2006.
  4. Silicon Valley News Notes: Icecapade. Metro Newspapers. December 13, 2006.
  5. Henry Weinstein (May 31, 2007). "Boeing subsidiary accused of aiding CIA torture flights". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved February 2, 2011.
  6. Mohamed v. Jeppesen Dataplan, Inc., 539 F.Supp.2d 1128 (N.D. Cal. 2008).
  7. Bob Egelko (February 13, 2008). "Federal judge dismisses suit over torture flights". San Francisco Chronicle. Retrieved February 2, 2011.
  8. Mohamed v. Jeppesen Dataplan, Inc., 614 F.3d 1070 (9th. Cir. 2010).
  9. Charlie Savage (September 8, 2010). "Court Dismisses a Case Asserting Torture by C.I.A." The New York Times. Retrieved February 2, 2011.
  10. Joan Biskupic (January 17, 2011). "Test of 'state secrets' shield goes before Supreme Court". USA Today. Retrieved February 2, 2011.
  11. Order List 563 U.S. (PDF), May 16, 2011, retrieved May 18, 2011
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