Anyone, anywhere, with Internet access can read the internal documents from Guantánamo Bay that were published last week. Anyone can analyze them and argue about them. Except lawyers for the people in those documents.

The Justice Department has warned lawyers representing prisoners held by the military in Cuba that the documents remain legally classified. That means the lawyers may not look at them except at a secure facility in Washington and may not discuss any classified information they learn. The rules, which serve no valid purpose, infringe on their ability to effectively represent their clients by promptly rebutting the government’s accusations and testing its basis for detention.

The papers include the military’s risk assessments of 700 past or present Guantánamo prisoners, including Saifullah Paracha, a Pakistani businessman accused of discussing further plots against the United States with Al Qaeda after Sept. 11, 2001. A lawyer handling Mr. Paracha’s challenge to his detention, David Remes, has asked the Federal District Court in Washington to let him “print, copy, disseminate and discuss” the documents without fear of losing his security clearance or other punishment.

The Justice Department says it is studying the issue. The right answer is clear. Administration officials should make the petition unnecessary by agreeing to Mr. Remes’s request and treating the publication as de facto declassification. If they do not, the court should order it.