The Obama administration is siding with its predecessor in a federal court case in California over the CIA's rendition program, saying lawsuits over renditions should not proceed because they could disclose "state secrets" and other classified national security details.

The administration made its argument Tuesday in front of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, which was hearing an appeal in a 2007 case filed by the American Civil Liberties Union.

"It is vital that we protect information that, if released, could jeopardize national security," said Department of Justice spokesman Matthew Miller in an e-mail to FOX News. 

In May 2007 the ACLU filed a claim against Jeppesen Dataplan, Inc., a subsidiary of Boeing Company. It charged that Jeppesen knowingly provided logistical services that aided the CIA's clandestine flights that took five ACLU clients to secret overseas locations where they were subjected to torture and other forms of cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment. 

In February 2008, the U.S. District Court granted the government's motion to dismiss the case, after the Bush administration argued that any litigation would harm national security by revealing state secrets. The ACLU appealed that decision to the Ninth Circuit, which heard Monday's arguments.

"This is not change. This is definitely more of the same," ACLU Executive Director Anthony D. Romero said after the Justice Department made its case. "If this is a harbinger of things to come, it will be a long and arduous road to give us back an America we can be proud of again."

"This was an opportunity for the new administration to act on its condemnation of torture and rendition, but instead it has chosen to stay the course. Now we must hope that the court will assert its independence by rejecting the government's false claims of state secrets and allowing the victims of torture and rendition their day in court," said ACLU staff attorney Ben Wizner, who argued the case for the plaintiffs.

The U.S. Supreme Court has not reviewed the use of the state secrets privilege in 50 years, a move condemned by the ACLU, which says the government increasingly asserts the privilege, including in recent cases on illegal wiretapping, torture and other breaches of U.S. and international law. 

Miller said the Obama Justice Department will use the state secrets privilege with great irregularity. 

"We note that it is the policy of this administration to invoke the state secrets privilege only when necessary and in the most appropriate cases. ... The Justice Department will ensure the privilege is not invoked to hide from the American people information about their government's actions that they have a right to know," he said.

FOX News' Michael Levine contributed to this report.