In its ruling on the A-12 case Monday, the Supreme Court rejected a concern that defense contractors could “goad” the government into invoking a state-secrets privilege in order to litigate their way out of an over-budget program. “Government contractors—especially cutting-edge defense contractors of the sort likely to operate in the state-secrets field—are repeat players,” wrote Justice Antonin Scalia for the unanimous court. “Even apart from the judicial sanctions available to punish bad conduct,” or frivolous lawsuits, “they have a strong incentive to behave rather than risk missing out on the next multi-billion-dollar defense contract.” Further, Scalia said the court had to resort to “its common-law authority to fashion contractual remedies in government contract disputes” in the A-12 case, and since the ruling is “common law” as opposed to statute, it is “subject to further refinement” in cases where the facts are “significantly different.”
Earlier this week, the People’s Republic of China confirmed it is halting its nuclear arms control talks with the U.S., in retaliation for the U.S. continuing to sell arms to Taiwan. The move reinforces a “pattern of behavior” from Beijing, experts say.