Abu Zubaydah, an alleged Al Qaeda operative, was tortured by two Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) contractors in a black site in Poland.

He sought testimony from these contractors in 2017, but the federal government blocked the request, arguing that any information about the black sites was classified.

The report found that Zubaydah had been subjected to waterboarding and other forms of torture at the black site under direction of two CIA contractors.

Thomas agreed with the judgement of the majority, but believed that Zubaydah did not need the information he was requesting from the contractors to pursue his case.

Gorsuch argued that the fact that Zubayduh was held at a black site in Poland between 2002 and 2003 was now public knowledge and thus no longer a state secret, and was concerned about the over-classification of information by the government.