The Law School’s Veterans Legal Services Clinic will be representing plaintiffs in a suit filed this morning against the federal government.

The Service Women’s Action Network, American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and ACLU of Connecticut have filed a lawsuit against the Department of Defense and the Department of Veterans Affairs. They allege the departments have failed to provide “government records documenting incidents of rape, sexual assault and sexual harassment in the military” in violation of the Freedom of Information Act, according to a press release from the ACLU and the text of the suit filed today.

The Veterans Legal Services Clinic, one of the parties representing the plaintiffs in the lawsuit, was created this semester to provide legal help to veterans. Yale’s is the only law school in New England with a program that specifically serves veterans.

“We have a good case,” said Taylor Asen LAW ’12, a clinic member providing counsel for the case, in an interview with the News Monday. “The public has a right to know the extent of the [military sexual trauma] crisis and what the government is doing about it.”

According to the lawsuit, sexual violence and harassment occurs almost twice as frequently in the military as in civil society.