US May Invoke "State Secrets" To Stop Banking Suit

[EV_Ares]

Posted by kdawson on Sunday September 02, @03:04PM
from the not-too-swift dept.

An anonymous reader Sends us to the International Herald Tribune for news that the Bush administration is signaling that it plans to turn once again to a favorite legal tool, the 'state secrets' privilege. The administration wants to shut down a lawsuit brought against Swift, a huge Belgium banking cooperative that that the article calls the "nerve center of the global banking industry," after it was revealed that Swift secretly let the CIA comb through millions of private financial records. Quoting:
"Two US banking customers sued Swift on invasion-of-privacy grounds. Many legal and financial analysts expected that the lawsuit would be thrown out because US banking privacy laws are considered much more lax than those in much of Europe. But to the surprise of many, a judge refused to throw out the lawsuit in a ruling in June."

Link: http://yro.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/09/02/1329259&from=rss

[Trillo]

1. No one in their right mind should object when the King

wishes to fondle your most private things.

[formercia]

2. Since when does the US tell Belgium what laws do or don't apply?

Little Lord Pissypants is pushing the envelope a bit.