Justices Seek to Avoid ‘Drive-By’ Ruling on National Security (1)

The U.S. Supreme Court seemed likely to rule narrowly in a case about government surveillance in order to avoid deciding what Justice Sonia Sotomayor called a “very knotty question” of when the U.S. can dismiss lawsuits over national security concerns.

The case heard Monday deals with the interplay between the state secrets privilege—in which the government can seek to exclude certain information by invoking it in a suit—and the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act—which requires that the government first disclose the information to a court to determine if it should be left out.

Several justices suggested that the court just say ...