[Infowarrior] - Detroit Judge says Patriot Act suit can proceed

[Richard Forno]

Detroit Judge says Patriot Act suit can proceed

BY DAVID ASHENFELTER
FREE PRESS STAFF WRITER
http://tinyurl.com/pt4z3

October 3, 2006

A federal judge in Detroit has rejected the government's request to dismiss
an ACLU lawsuit challenging the constitutionally of the controversial USA
Patriot Act, an anti-terrorism measure Congress enacted after the 9/11
attacks.

U.S. District Judge Denise Hood issued the decision without fanfare on
Friday, nearly three years after promising a speedy decision in the case.
Congress has amended the law at least once since the government's request
was argued before Hood in December 2003.

Hood said in a 15-page decision that the ACLU's clients - Muslim charities,
social services organizations and advocacy groups - established that they
have been harmed Section 215 of the law.

Hood said the ACLU's clients can proceed with their lawsuit and gave them 30
days to amend their initial complaint in light of amendments adopted by
Congress in March.

The government had argued that this year's amendments had corrected any
constitutional deficiencies in the act. The ACLU disagreed.

Michigan ACLU Executive Director Kary Moss said she was satisfied with the
decision and will confer with her clients before deciding whether to proceed
with the suit.

³She confirmed what we've said all along, that our clients are suffering
concrete harm as a result of the Patriot Act,² Moss said Tuesday. ³Even
though we think the act fails to comply with the Constitution, we believe
our legal challenge and advocacy in Congress has fixed some of the worst
problems.²

She said the law now gives any business receiving a request for records of
customers an employees the right to consult with a lawyer before turning
over records to the government.

Moss said the law still prohibits anyone who receives a records request from
divulging it for at least one year, but allows them to challenge the order
after the year has run.

She also said the ability of the government to obtain a warrant to seize
records without probable cause from the secret Foreign Intelligence
Surveillance Court in Washington, D.C, still poses a problem.

There was no immediate comment from the Justice Department.

Copyright © 2006 Detroit Free Press Inc.