I urge you to drop your assertion of the state-secrets privilege in Mohamed v.
Jeppesen Dataplan, currently before the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth
Circuit.  Mohamed v. Jeppesen Dataplan is an important case not only for the
plaintiffs who claim that Boeing subsidiary Jeppesen Dataplan violated the
Alien Tort Statute by providing logistical support for the plaintiffs'
kidnapping and torture during an "extraordinary rendition" process, but also
for the American principle of limited executive power.  Whatever the outcome,
it is a case that deserves to be heard.

In an ostensibly open and democratic society, the state secrets privilege
should be applied sparingly if at all.  Though it might be invoked to suppress
particular evidence within a case, the state-secrets privilege ought never to
be the basis for dismissal of an entire case.  As you know, a bipartisan group
of senators has introduced S.417, the State Secrets Protection Act, in order to
outlaw exactly the sort of blanket state-secrets dismissal that you are
pursuing.  I had hoped that this legislation would not be necessary, and that
your Justice Department would have been willing to work with the court and with
the plaintiffs so that this important case could be fully argued, and justice
fully served.