Advocacy groups sue Trump administration seeking release of legal memo justifying boat strikes
Source: NBC News
Dec. 9, 2025, 11:25 AM EST
A coalition of advocacy groups filed a lawsuit Tuesday against the Trump administration seeking the immediate release of the memo that provides the legal justification for U.S. military strikes on alleged drug boats. The complaint, filed in federal court in Manhattan, argues that the deadly strikes, which have killed at least 87 people since early September, are illegal and that Americans deserve to see the justification for them.
The filing requests that the court order the Justice, State and Defense Departments to immediately search for all records regarding the legal reasoning behind the U.S. military campaign against the alleged drug boats and to release them to the American Civil Liberties Union, or ACLU, and other plaintiffs, including the New York Civil Liberties Union and the Center for Constitutional Rights.
“We think that the public deserves to know how our government is justifying the cold-blooded murder of civilians as lawful," Jeffrey Stein, attorney for the ACLU, said in an interview. "We think that the Trump administration needs to stop these illegal and immoral strikes immediately, and that the officials who have carried them out must be held accountable, not gifted a 'Get Out of Jail Free card.'"
The Justice and Defense Departments did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Read more: https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/justice-department/advocacy-groups-sue-trump-administration-seeking-release-legal-memo-ju-rcna247649
Link to PRESS RELEASE - Rights Groups Sue Trump Administration for Legal Justification of Deadly Boat Strikes
Link to SUIT (PDF) - https://www.nyclu.org/uploads/2025/12/Complaint-OLC-MEMO-FOIA.pdf
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