labeled “classified” was off-limits to judicial review or disclosure to the defendant. The 11th Circuit Court of Appeals agreed, ruling that classification status is whatever the executive branch’s national-security apparatus says it is.
That precedent now applies with full force to Comey’s memos. If the current DOJ and intelligence community deem the documents classified — because they memorialize the president’s discussions on ongoing national-security matters — Comey’s defense that the memos were never classified collapses under the same legal standard his allies once championed.
