(CN) - A man sentenced to death by a military court is not entitled to view a briefing prepared for President Bush regarding his case, the D.C. Circuit ruled.
Dwight Loving was court-martialed for felony murder and sentenced to death. The U.S. Supreme Court upheld his conviction.
Loving asked the Army and the Department of Defense to disclose the records of his case. After several appeals, four documents remain in dispute.
The trial court found that three of the documents were protected by the presidential communications privilege of the Freedom of Information Act, while the fourth was protected by the deliberative process privilege.
The appellate court agreed that the FOIA exemptions apply in this case.
"Here, the party protected by the privilege is the President of the United States," Tatel wrote. "Loving's identity as a capital prisoner has no bearing on the merits of his FOIA request."
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