Court denies Israeli spy Pollard’s appeal
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. Supreme Court rejected on
Monday an appeal by Jonathan Pollard, a former Navy
intelligence analyst convicted of spying for Israel, who had
sought access to classified documents in his sentencing file.
Without comment, the justices declined to review a U.S.
appeals court ruling that federal courts lack jurisdiction to
review claims for access to such documents for clemency
petitions.
Pollard, 51, was sentenced to life in prison in 1987. His
lawyers wanted access to classified documents in his sentencing
file, including a declaration by then-Defense Secretary Caspar
Weinberger, for the purpose of filing a clemency petition with
President George W. Bush.
Pollard, who pleaded guilty, and his attorney were given
access to the materials before he was sentenced. But the two
lawyers he hired in 2000 have been denied access to the
documents.
In rejecting Pollard’s request for access, the appeals
court said, “As a practical matter, granting Pollard or his
counsel access to these materials would almost surely open a
floodgate of similar requests.”
Arrested in 1985 outside the Israeli Embassy in Washington,
Pollard was sentenced for providing tens of thousands of pages
of classified information to Israel. His former wife, Anne, was
sentenced to five years in prison for assisting him.
His case, which initially strained relations between the
United States and Israel, has become a cause celebre for some
Jewish groups in the United States and for his supporters in
Israel, who believe Pollard passed information that Israel
should have been given by the United States.
Top Israeli government officials have urged the United
States to let Pollard out of prison but his several requests
for clemency have all been denied.
Pollard’s lawyers did not seek Supreme Court review of the
other main part of the appeals court ruling that he had waited
too long and therefore could not challenge his life sentence on
the grounds he had received ineffective legal advice.