[Infowarrior] - ACLU Tries to Stop Warrantless Wiretapping

[Richard Forno]

ACLU Tries to Stop Warrantless Wiretapping
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/06/12/AR2006061200
158_pf.html
By SARAH KARUSH
The Associated Press
Monday, June 12, 2006; 11:19 AM

DETROIT -- Critics of the government's domestic surveillance program claim
it violates the rights of free speech and privacy. The Bush administration
says it is necessary and legal.

Both sides were in court Monday to argue the constitutionality of the
program, with the American Civil Liberties Union seeking an immediate halt
to warrantless wiretapping.

The Bush administration has asked U.S. District Judge Anna Diggs Taylor to
dismiss the lawsuit, saying litigation would jeopardize state secrets.

The administration has acknowledged eavesdropping on Americans'
international communications without first seeking court approval. President
Bush has said the eavesdropping is legal because of a congressional
resolution passed after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks that
authorized him to use force in the fight against terrorism.

The parties in the ACLU lawsuit, who include journalists, scholars and
lawyers, say the program has hampered their ability to do their jobs because
it has made international contacts, such as sources and potential witnesses,
wary of sharing information over the phone.

Ann Beeson, the ACLU's associate legal director, said the administration's
arguments in defense of the program don't square with the Constitution.

"The framers never intended to give the president the power to ignore the
laws of Congress even during wartime and emergencies," she said last week
during a conference call with reporters.

She said no state secrets need to be revealed to litigate the case because
the administration has already acknowledged the program exists. The Center
for Constitutional Rights has filed a similar lawsuit on the eavesdropping
in federal court in New York.
© 2006 The Associated Press