[Infowarrior] - Fed court orders WH to release wiretap memos

[Richard Forno]

Judge orders review of wiretap memos
Justice Department must produce communications from White House
The Associated Press
updated 5:53 p.m. ET, Sat., Nov. 1, 2008

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/27488365/

WASHINGTON - A federal judge has ordered the Justice Department to  
produce White House memos that provide the legal basis for the Bush  
administration's post-Sept. 11 warrantless wiretapping program.

U.S. District Judge Henry Kennedy Jr. signed an order Friday requiring  
the department to produce the memos by the White House legal counsel's  
office by Nov. 17. He said he will review the memos in private to  
determine if any information can be released publicly without  
violating attorney-client privilege or jeopardizing national security.

Kennedy issued his order in response to lawsuits by civil liberties  
groups in 2005 after news reports disclosed the wiretapping.

The department had argued that the memos were protected attorney- 
client communications and contain classified information.

But Kennedy said that the attorney-client argument was "too vague" and  
that he would have to look at the documents himself to determine if  
that argument is valid and also to see if there is information that  
can be released without endangering national security.

Justice Department spokesman Dean Boyd said Saturday the department is  
reviewing the opinion and will "respond appropriately in court."

Shortly after the Sept. 11 attacks, Bush authorized the National  
Security Agency to spy on calls between people in the U.S. and  
suspected terrorists abroad without obtaining court warrants. The  
administration said it needed to act more quickly than the court could  
and that the president had inherent authority under the Constitution  
to order warrantless domestic spying.

After the program was challenged in court, Bush last year put it under  
the supervision of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court,  
established in 1978 after the domestic spying scandals of the 1970s.

"We think just as a common sense matter the legal theories for the  
president's wiretap programs cannot be classified and should be  
available to the public," said Marc Rotenberg, president of the  
Electronic Privacy Information Center, one of the groups seeking the  
memos.

"It's an important decision because up to this point the judge has  
relied on the government's assertion that it has done everything  
properly under the law and that it has disclosed everything it needs  
to disclose," Rotenberg said Saturday.

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URL: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/27488365/

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