A Report on Court Access from Harry Hammitt

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2005 marked something of a turning point in access litigation. After several years of minor victories followed by major defeats, momentum during 2005 clearly seemed to favor the requester rather than the government. Several district courts began to reject what they considered rampant speculation on the part of the government in protecting information concerning U.S. treatment of detainees, both in Iraq and Guantanamo Bay. Arguments about how information might be used to aid and abet terrorists that were accepted almost reflexively several years ago were greeted with skepticism, even disdain, in a number of cases.