Justice Lifts Order Halting North’s Trial : Ex-Aide’s Lawyers Again Object to Thornburgh Role

Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist today lifted an order that had delayed Oliver L. North’s Iran-Contra trial after Atty. Gen. Dick Thornburgh said he is satisfied with arrangements for handling state secrets that North wants to make public.

Later today, North’s lawyers again objected to Thornburgh’s role in the trial, saying it would “impose intolerable burdens” and delays on the court, the witnesses and jurors.

Rehnquist, in a brief order this morning, lifted a stay he had granted the government on Sunday. The Justice Department says that adequate safeguards to prevent disclosure of national security secrets at the trial are in place and that there no longer is a need to hold up the proceedings.

Thornburgh accepted an order on Wednesday from U.S. District Judge Gerhard A. Gesell barring the attorney general from filing affidavits continuously during the trial objecting to individual pieces of classified material that North wants to introduce in his defense.

‘Bits and Pieces’

Independent counsel Lawrence E. Walsh, who is prosecuting North, said he will, if necessary, seek an affidavit from the attorney general to prevent the disclosure during the trial of classified information that could harm national security.

But attorneys Brendan Sullivan and Barry Simon today filed a motion seeking rejection of the plan. They said that each time the court rules admissible an item of information falling within nine categories specified by the judge’s order, “the trial will come to a halt” while Walsh sends word to Thornburgh.

North’s lawyers said Walsh’s plan contemplates that Thornburgh would be permitted to intervene in the trial through “bits and pieces of affidavit,” an approach that the judge rejected Tuesday.