A Manhattan Civil Court judge has declined to force an investigation into whether a U.S. Army psychologist developed abusive interrogation techniques for detainees at Guantánamo Bay and should be stripped of his license, halting what advocates have called the first court case amid a push to shed light on psychologists’ role in terror suspects’ interrogations.
In a ruling filed yesterday, Judge Saliann Scarpulla (See Profile) said in Reisner v. Catone, 115400/2010, that the case does not meet legal requirements for challenging state government actions, namely that the complainant, another psychologist, does not have standing to bring the suit. Rights activists and some psychologists have pressed regulators in several states, unsuccessfully so far, to explore whether psychologists violated professional rules by designing or observing abusive interrogations.
