Jan. 12 (Bloomberg) -- The Bush administration can continue withholding the names of more than 750 people arrested following the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, after the U.S. Supreme Court rejected an appeal by civil liberties groups.

The American Civil Liberties Union and other organizations said the ``unprecedented secrecy'' harmed efforts to learn whether the arrests were justified or the detainees were mistreated. A federal appeals court upheld the government's argument that releasing the names would interfere with the terrorism investigation.

Following the 2001 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, officials arrested more than 750 people on immigration violations and an undisclosed number as witnesses. Many of those arrested for immigration violations were deported, and fewer than 100 remained in custody a year later. Almost all were Arabs or Muslims, the groups said.

``History shows that in times of crisis and fear, executive officials are prone to overreact,'' lawyers for the ACLU, Human Rights Watch, American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee and 16 other groups said in court papers filed in Washington. ``Arrests have never before been done in secret in this country, despite the many security concerns we have faced over the years.''

The government did disclose the names of about 130 people who were arrested on various criminal charges during the investigation.

Justice Department lawyers said in court papers that releasing the detainees' names would disclose the government's tactics in the continuing investigation, make those questioned vulnerable to intimidation, and reveal to terrorist groups the people who haven't been questioned.

Immigration Hearings

The government also has kept secret all terrorism-related immigration hearings. The Supreme Court last May refused to hear an appeal by New Jersey news organizations that argued the U.S. Constitution requires immigration hearings to be conducted in public absent a specific national security reason.

The ACLU and the other groups sought the detainees' names under the Constitution's First Amendment and the Freedom of Information Act, which requires disclosure of government records with certain exceptions. Information related to law-enforcement investigations can be withheld if its disclosure would interfere with enforcement proceedings.

The groups said a report by the Justice Department's inspector general showed that many people were questioned based on ``unreliable tips'' and that many were held because the questioning turned up immigration violations or criminal acts unrelated to terrorism.

The organizations said the inspector general reported that some detainees were never offered lawyers, were tricked into giving up their right to an attorney, were slammed into walls by guards or were held in cells that were lit around the clock.

Road Map

A federal judge's ruling that the government must release the detainees' names was reversed in June by the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia.

``America faces an enemy just as real as its former Cold War foes, with capabilities beyond the capacity of the judiciary to explore,'' the appeals court said.

In the appeal denied Supreme Court review, the civil liberties groups said the government didn't show that releasing the names would harm the terrorism investigation.

``A national security crisis is no justification for courts allowing the government to evade so easily its responsibilities'' under the Freedom of Information Act, the groups' lawyers said.

Justice Department lawyers said releasing the names would provide a ``road map of law enforcement's activities, strategies and methods.'' The lawyers said the harm would be ``self- evident'' if members of a gang or organized crime family made a similar request.

Twenty-three news organizations including the New York Times, Washington Post and the three major broadcast television networks filed a court brief supporting the civil-liberties groups.

Allowing the government to keep secret the names of people arrested in the terrorist investigation ``threatens to stifle public scrutiny into the government's use of its arrest power,'' the news organizations said.

The case is Center for National Security Studies v. U.S. Department of Justice, 03-472.

Last Updated: January 12, 2004 10:05 EST