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In April, a three-judge panel of the US Court of Appeals in San Francisco rejected arguments by the administrations of President Barack Obama and his predecessor that a suit against Jeppesen Dataplan affected highly sensitive secrets that should not be disclosed in court.
The Justice Department in turn requested that the case be reheard by the full appeals court, and it will now be referred to an 11-judge panel.
"While the state secrets privilege is necessary to protect national security, the United States will not invoke the privilege to prevent disclosure of the violation of a law or embarrassment to the government," government lawyers said in their filing.
"It is the government's position that permitting this suit to proceed would pose an unacceptable risk to national security."
The lawsuit was brought on behalf of five men who said they had been forcibly abducted and transferred to secret prisons abroad, where they were interrogated under torture and were not protected by US law.
It charged that US-based Jeppesen had knowingly participated in the "extraordinary rendition" program launched by President George W. Bush's administration after the September 11, 2001 attacks by helping the Central Intelligence Agency transport terror suspects to the sites.
The court's decision to rehear the case voided its April ruling. If the court rules in favor of the government's argument, the plaintiffs could still appeal to the US Supreme Court.
"The sum and substance of the United States' position in this litigation is that the government may engage in kidnapping and torture, declare those activities 'state secrets,' and by virtue of that designation alone avoid any judicial inquiry," the plaintiffs wrote in their filing.
"Permitting torture victims to seek justice in our courts will not endanger the nation."
The five plaintiffs include Ethiopian-born Binyam Mohamed, who became the first prisoner to be transferred from the Guantanamo Bay prison under Obama when he was released to Britain in February.
He claims he was tortured and questioned by US and British officials in Pakistan before being transferred and again tortured at a secret Morocco site in 2002 and later at US facilities in Afghanistan in 2004 before being sent to Guantanamo.
The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), which represents the plaintiffs, said it was "disappointed" by the court's decision to rehear the case.
"We hope and expect that the court's historic decision to allow the lawsuit to go forward will stand," ACLU attorney Ben Wizner said in a statement.
"Since the court's decision in April, the government's sweeping secrecy claims have only gotten weaker... The Obama administration's embrace of overbroad secrecy claims has denied torture victims their day in court and shielded perpetrators from liability or accountability."
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The Justice Department in turn requested that the case be reheard by the full appeals court, and it will now be referred to an 11-judge panel.
"While the state secrets privilege is necessary to protect national security, the United States will not invoke the privilege to prevent disclosure of the violation of a law or embarrassment to the government," government lawyers said in their filing.
"It is the government's position that permitting this suit to proceed would pose an unacceptable risk to national security."
The lawsuit was brought on behalf of five men who said they had been forcibly abducted and transferred to secret prisons abroad, where they were interrogated under torture and were not protected by US law.
It charged that US-based Jeppesen had knowingly participated in the "extraordinary rendition" program launched by President George W. Bush's administration after the September 11, 2001 attacks by helping the Central Intelligence Agency transport terror suspects to the sites.
The court's decision to rehear the case voided its April ruling. If the court rules in favor of the government's argument, the plaintiffs could still appeal to the US Supreme Court.
"The sum and substance of the United States' position in this litigation is that the government may engage in kidnapping and torture, declare those activities 'state secrets,' and by virtue of that designation alone avoid any judicial inquiry," the plaintiffs wrote in their filing.
"Permitting torture victims to seek justice in our courts will not endanger the nation."
The five plaintiffs include Ethiopian-born Binyam Mohamed, who became the first prisoner to be transferred from the Guantanamo Bay prison under Obama when he was released to Britain in February.
He claims he was tortured and questioned by US and British officials in Pakistan before being transferred and again tortured at a secret Morocco site in 2002 and later at US facilities in Afghanistan in 2004 before being sent to Guantanamo.
The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), which represents the plaintiffs, said it was "disappointed" by the court's decision to rehear the case.
"We hope and expect that the court's historic decision to allow the lawsuit to go forward will stand," ACLU attorney Ben Wizner said in a statement.
"Since the court's decision in April, the government's sweeping secrecy claims have only gotten weaker... The Obama administration's embrace of overbroad secrecy claims has denied torture victims their day in court and shielded perpetrators from liability or accountability."
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