Court Opinion

ID: 9467291
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-05 01:44:27.549681+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:40:16.476407
License: Public Domain

MURNAGHAN, Circuit Judge,
dissenting:
I respectfully dissent for the reasons stated in the panel majority opinion. Farns-worth Cannon, Inc. v. Grimes, 635 F.2d 268 (4th Cir. 1980).
The en banc majority opinion, in my humble judgment, opens a door which should remain welded shut. Any litigant in the Fourth Circuit whose proof is hampered by the invocation of state secrets can hereafter be turned away from his efforts to obtain *283justice on the questionable grounds that, for reasons as to which he must remain uninformed, he might stumble intrusively into a protected area. The opportunities for unexplicated imposition of arbitrary fiat under the rule the majority adopts are potentially frightening.