[Infowarrior] - Federal Judge Allows Lawsuit Against NSA

[Richard Forno]

Federal Judge Allows Lawsuit Against NSA
http://www.salon.com/wire/ap/archive.html?wire=D8I038M80.html
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June 02,2006 | DETROIT -- A federal judge will go ahead with hearings in a
legal challenge to a warrantless domestic surveillance program run by the
National Security Agency.

U.S. District Judge Anna Diggs Taylor also criticized the Justice Department
for failing to respond to the legal challenge, The Detroit News reported
Friday.

The NSA and the Justice Department declined immediate comment. The Bush
administration has said that hearings would reveal state secrets that affect
national security.

The American Civil Liberties Union in Detroit and the Center for
Constitutional Rights in New York filed lawsuits against the program in
January, saying it violates Americans' rights to free speech and to privacy.

In March, the plaintiffs asked the judge to declare the National Security
Agency's program illegal. They said the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance
Act requires that the spy agency go to a secret court in order to spy within
the United States.

The government filed a motion saying that no court can consider the issues
because of a privilege against revealing state secrets, if doing so harms
national security. The judge said she will hear the government's motion only
after proceeding with a June 12 hearing on the plaintiffs' motion to
summarily declare the spying illegal.

"Although defendants have not responded to said motion they may, if they
appear, argue against it," she said.

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