WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A Soviet-bloc couple recruited to spy for the CIA (news - web sites) cannot sue the agency for reneging on a promise of lifetime pay for their Cold War services, a unanimous U.S. Supreme Court (news - web sites) ruled on Wednesday.
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The Supreme Court cited as the basis for its ruling its 1875 decision that the heirs of William Lloyd could not sue to recover money promised by President Abraham Lincoln in 1861 for spying on Confederate troops during the Civil War.
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The ruling was a defeat for the couple who have been identified only by the pseudonyms John and Jane Doe. Former citizens of a Soviet-bloc nation, they defected to the United States and became U.S. citizens.
The couple said the CIA recruited them during the Cold War to spy after they expressed interest in defecting to the United States. The husband was a high-ranking diplomat.
They said they had been assured that if they spied the CIA would arrange for their eventual resettlement in the United States and ensure their financial and personal security for life. They said they carried out their end of the bargain, but the CIA reneged and abandoned them.
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