On Tuesday, the ACLU initiated a federal lawsuit, demanding the Department of Justice release a confidential and “classified” memo from the Office of Legal Counsel (OLC). This document reportedly provided the legal rationale for the Trump administration’s aggressive boat attacks in international waters targeting alleged drug smugglers, labeled as “narcoterrorists” by the government.

This memo, which has been publicly acknowledged by both the White House and the Department of Defense and accessed by members of Congress, is crucial for public awareness, according to the lawsuit filed under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). The ACLU asserts that the public deserves insight into how the Trump administration justified what they describe as the “outright murder of civilians” as lawful, and on what basis it claims immunity for those involved in these actions.

The lawsuit emphasizes the urgency of releasing these records to foster informed public discourse about the U.S. military’s unprecedented strikes. Since September, these actions have resulted in the deaths of over eighty civilians, allegedly flouting both domestic and international law. Additionally, transparency is vital due to reports indicating that the OLC Opinion may protect those who authorized or participated in these strikes from future legal action.

The ACLU highlights a widespread agreement among experts on military force legality, noting figures like “torture memos” author and law professor John Yoo and Senator Rand Paul, R-Ky., who argue these strikes are illegal. The public references to the memo by the White House and the Department of Defense further support the necessity of its release, along with any unclassified versions of the opinion.

According to the complaint, since September 2, 2025, President Trump has directed 22 lethal military actions against civilian boats in the Caribbean Sea and the eastern Pacific Ocean, which the U.S. claims were drug-laden, resulting in 87 fatalities. The ACLU contends that the U.S. military is not authorized to execute civilians suspected of drug smuggling without first attempting non-lethal alternatives like arrest and only resorting to lethal force when faced with an immediate, specific threat of death or severe injury.

Noting that one senator told the Washington Post the memo is “broad enough to authorize just about anything” in terms of the “use of force anywhere in the world,” the legal justification for immunity must also be exposed, the suit said.

In a statement, ACLU National Security Project attorney Jeffrey Stein referred to immunity as “get-out-of-jail-free cards” for “cold-blooded murder of civilians.”

“The Trump administration must stop these illegal and immoral strikes, and officials who have carried them out must be held accountable,” Stein said.

The suit comes as Congress demands videos of a second Sept. 2 strike widely denounced as “dishonorable,” killing survivors on a boat the U.S. hit, and as Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth and President Donald Trump waffle or reverse course on the subject.