Spies cant sue over soured contracts with US
Using an 1876 precedent, the US Supreme Court has unanimously ruled that spies cannot sue the American Government for reneging on their espionage contracts.
The court dismissed a lawsuit by two former Soviet bloc diplomats who said the CIA induced them to betray their countries during the Cold War in return for a pledge of resettlement in the US and a lifetime income. The CIA refused to live up to the deal after the US-Soviet conflict ended, reports The Washington Post. Chief Justice William Rehnquist said the applicable rule had been laid down in 1876 when the court threw out a suit by a former Union spy seeking his promised pay from the federal government. In that case, the court held that a suit to enforce an espionage contract is inconsistent with the mutual pledge of secrecy that forms a central condition of any such arrangement. Full report in The Washington Post