WASHINGTON — For the second time in two days, a panel of appellate court judges on Friday rebuffed efforts by the Justice Department to delay the trial of former White House aide Oliver L. North.
Government lawyers, however, will try to get an unusual weekend order from Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist to postpone the trial.
Atty. Gen. Dick Thornburgh said that Justice Department attorneys will file legal papers today asking Rehnquist to grant a stay in North's trial, which is scheduled to resume Monday, until the Supreme Court can review the department's arguments that tighter restrictions need to be imposed to prevent state secrets from being revealed in the courtroom.
Thornburgh complained in a statement that U.S. District Judge Gerhard A. Gesell "unfortunately . . . has chosen not to follow the provisions" of the 1980 Classified Information Procedures Act governing the handling of sensitive evidence at a trial.
'Procedures of His Own'
"Instead," said Thornburgh, "he has adopted procedures of his own which do not provide the needed assurances of protection to sensitive matters."
Gesell has established broad categories for what may and may not be revealed in court but, out of concern for North's right to a fair trial, has shied away from allowing government security experts to screen every piece of evidence North wants to introduce.
Thornburgh issued his statement after Justice Department officials had renewed their efforts in the U.S. Court of Appeals to stop resumption of the trial, contending in new papers that North's attorneys may reveal national security secrets in their opening statements to the jury Monday.
Justice Department officials have not suggested what items they are referring to, but North has indicated he wants to apprise jurors of other foreign covert operations besides the Iran-Contra events in which he participated and which had presidential authorization.
Gesell completed selecting a jury of nine women and three men Thursday but postponed swearing them in until all legal problems could be resolved. He told them to return Monday.
Justice Department attorneys have argued in their two days of filings that Gesell must be ordered to screen in advance the disclosures of defense attorneys based on advice from government security analysts.
