New lawsuit presses Pentagon, State Dept to disclose legal justification for Venezuelan boat strikes

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Democratic lawmakers cry ‘war crimes’ after U.S. strikes on suspected drug-trafficking boats

Sen. Tommy Tuberville, R-Ala., reacts to Democrats’ criticism of the Trump administration after strikes on alleged drug-trafficking boats on ‘The Will Cain Show.’

The Trump administration is facing a lawsuit seeking the immediate release of a memo providing the legal justification for U.S. military strikes on drug boats, Fox News has learned.

The lawsuit was filed by the American Civil Liberties Union, the American Civil Liberties Union Foundation and the Center for Constitutional Rights. The Department of Justice, including its Office of Legal Counsel, Department of State and the Department of Defense, which was recently renamed the Department of War, are listed as defendants.

In the lawsuit, the ACLU, which noted the action was being taken under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), said it was "seeking the immediate release of a legal opinion authored by the Office of Legal Counsel (OLC), a component of the Department of Justice (DOJ), concerning the U.S. military’s claimed authority to carry out lethal strikes on civilians in boats that the U.S. government asserts are carrying drugs."

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War Secretary Pete Hegseth listens as President Donald Trump speaks during a Cabinet meeting at the White House, on Tuesday, Dec. 2, 2025. (Julia Demaree Nikhinson/AP)

The organization claims that in October, the plaintiffs submitted "identical FOIA requests to OLC, DOD and the State Department" requesting various records, but had not received the documents.

The ACLU argued that the release of the information was "critically important to ensuring informed public debate about the U.S. military’s unprecedented strikes," which it says were carried out "in clear violation of domestic and international law."

Video footage showed the vessel shortly before it was destroyed. (@realDonaldTrump via Truth Social)

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On Sept. 2, the Trump administration carried out the first publicly-acknowledged strike on a suspected drug boat in the Caribbean Sea. The strike has since become controversial due to a second missile that was shot at the boat, killing the only two survivors of the initial hit.

War Secretary Pete Hegseth recently told Fox News’ Lucas Tomlinson that it took "a couple of weeks, almost a month" to build the intelligence required for the first strike. He said the Pentagon had to reorient assets that had been focused "10,000 miles around the other side of the world for a very long time."

Secretary of State Marco Rubio, President Donald Trump and War Secretary Pete Hegseth during a Cabinet meeting at the White House on Tuesday, Dec. 2, 2025. (Yuri Gripas/CNP/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

President Donald Trump said the survivors were trying to "return the boat back to where it could float." While the president initially said he saw "no problem" with releasing the footage, he appeared to backtrack on Monday, saying it was up to Hegseth, according to The Associated Press. 

While the administration has stood by the strikes as being conducted in a lawful manner, the ACLU argues that the actions are illegal. The civil liberties organization states in the lawsuit that "The U.S. military may not summarily kill civilians who are merely suspected of smuggling drugs," noting that "non-lethal measures" must be taken first.

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In the lawsuit, the ACLU requests that the court order the defendants to carry out a "full, adequate and thorough search for all responsive records" and to "immediately process and release" them.

This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.

Fox News Digital's Jasmine Baehr and The Associated Press contributed to this report.