The
U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit reversed a
lower court ruling and ordered that the firm, Ralls Corp, be provided
the evidence on which Obama had rejected the bid.
Obama had issued an order in 2012 instructing Ralls to sell off its
four planned wind farms due to national security risks, the first time
since 1990 that a U.S. president has formally blocked a business
transaction or required a sale on such grounds.
Ralls, which was installing wind turbines close to an Oregon site used to test unmanned drones, immediately sued.
The firm argued that Obama's order violated the due process clause of
the Fifth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, and said the government
had not provided it with the opportunity to review and respond to the
evidence used against it.
Experts had predicted the lawsuit had little chance to succeed because
of the president's broad powers to protect national security.
