Two Groups Plan Lawsuits Over Federal Eavesdropping

[DoYouEverWonder]

January 17, 2006

WASHINGTON, Jan. 16 - Two leading civil rights groups say they plan to file lawsuits Tuesday against the Bush administration over its domestic spying program to determine whether the operation was used to monitor 10 defense lawyers, journalists, scholars, political activists and other Americans with ties to the Middle East.

The two lawsuits, which are being filed separately by the American Civil Liberties Union in Federal District Court in Detroit and the Center for Constitutional Rights in Federal District Court in Manhattan, are the first major court challenges to the eavesdropping program.

Both groups are seeking to have the courts order an immediate end to the program, which the groups say is illegal and unconstitutional. The Bush administration has strongly defended the legality and necessity of the surveillance program, and officials said the Justice Department would probably vigorously oppose the lawsuits on national security grounds.

Justice Department officials would not comment on any specific individuals who might have been singled out under the National Security Agency program, and they said the department would review the lawsuits once they were filed.

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/01/17/politics/17nsa.html?hp&ex=1137474000&en=9aa4386db9bb10f6&ei=5094&partner=homepage

[NVMojo]

1. good idea!

[roguevalley]

2. hallelujah!

[rodeodance]

8. and have a glass of good wine.

[caligirl]

3. ACLU is also requesting records on Pentagon spying of UCSC

students(SAW) for protesting the military recruiters presence last April 5. Wonder if this will be included in the law suit.

[rodeodance]

14. isn't that a separate FBI spying issue?

[caligirl]

15. Don't think it is an FBI case, not yet. My son attends this school

Feinstein demands Rumsfeld explain UCSC spying

and associates with some of those spied on. He did not attend the job fair due to a change in plans. I can see the story now, retired Marine Colonel's kid spied on by Pentagon for anti war activity.



U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-California, wants an explanation about reports of Pentagon spying at UC Santa Cruz as well as other surveillance of U.S. citizens.

Feinstein wrote Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld in a letter dated Tuesday asking him to explain the practices and authority of the Counter Intelligence Field Activity in collecting information in the course of its domestic investigations.

In December, NBS news aired a string of reports based on Pentagon documents that listed 1,500 "suspicious" activities during a 10-month period. NBC interviewed experts who said the Pentagon had overstepped its bounds in collecting information in the aftermath of the 9/11 terrorist attacks. One of the incidents that caught the eyes and ears of the agency was an April 5 protest against military recruiters at a job fair at UC Santa Cruz.

That protest led to the job fair getting shut down temporarily and the injury of a UC Santa Cruz staffer.

The military recruiters left the fair.

"What Department of Defense components are authorized to collect or maintain information on U.S. Persons on U.S. territory without court approval?" Feinstein wrote. "Under what circumstances are Department of Defense components authorized to collect, report, maintain, database, analyze, fuse or otherwise handle information concerning U.S. Persons engaged in activities protected by the First Amendment?"

Feinstein asked Rumsfeld to respond to her letter by Jan. 31.

[rodeodance]

4. whow. glad to see this. They know this Congress will whitewash things

all to hell.

[rodeodance]

5. this IS heating up. I was skeptical--to slow for me I guess.

[rodeodance]

6. time to give somd $$ to the ACLU.

[rodeodance]

7. nominate for a SWEET day!

[rodeodance]

9. both are asking to STOP NOW also.

Both groups are seeking to have the courts order an immediate end to the program, which the groups say is illegal and unconstitutional. The Bush administration has strongly defended the legality and necessity of the surveillance program, and officials said the Justice Department would probably vigorously oppose the lawsuits on national security grounds.

[rodeodance]

10. This is something that is seldom discussed--WHY allow it go on while

these hearing (congress) are taking place.

[leesa]

11. Excellent! I hope they name individuals who have authorized and conducted

the spying so that Bush and company can be brought up on specific charges.

[rodeodance]

12. "It's a return to the bad old days of the N.S.A.,"

.....The lawsuits seek to answer one of the major questions surrounding the eavesdropping program: has it been used solely to single out the international phone calls and e-mail messages of people with known links to Al Qaeda, as President Bush and his most senior advisers have maintained, or has it been abused in ways that civil rights advocates say could hark back to the political spying abuses of the 1960's and 70's?

"There's almost a feeling of déjà vu with this program," said James Bamford, an author and journalist who is one of five individual plaintiffs in the A.C.L.U. lawsuit who say they suspect that the program may have been used to monitor their international communications.

"It's a return to the bad old days of the N.S.A.," said Mr. Bamford, who has written two widely cited books on the intelligence agency.

Although the program's public disclosure last month has generated speculation that it might have been used to monitor journalists or politicians, no evidence has emerged to support that idea. Bush administration officials point to a secret audit by the Justice Department last year that reviewed a sampling of security agency interceptions involving Americans and that they said found no documented abuses.

[rodeodance]

13. a jounalist is named in the case--but also say no evidence that they

were monitored.

[understandinglife]

16. Onward "We the People ..." Onward ....

Peace.

[zalinda]

17. Could a suit also be brought against

The New York Times for withholding the information of an on going crime?

zalinda

[hang a left]

18. I wonder if this is where Christine Amanpour comes in???

[f-bush]

19. Yes! Go for it!!

If Congress is filled with a bunch of spineless pussies, then we have to get this out in some other fashion and about the only credible way to do is through the courts!

[Kber]

20. Thank Dog for the ACLU!

on edit - more at link

Rights group readies suit over US domestic spying
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20060117/pl_nm/security_eavesdropping_dc

[mom cat]

21. This is why we must fight Alito...Call your senators today1

[UpInArms]

22. National Security Agency sued in Detroit over surveillance

http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060117/NEWS11/60117003

The American Civil Liberties Union filed suit Tuesday in federal court in Detroit to stop President George W. Bush’s secret domestic surveillance program being run by the National Security Agency.

The 60-page suit was filed on behalf of a group of scholars, lawyers and journalists who frequently contact the Middle East by telephone and email. They believe their communications have been intercepted by the NSA’s electronic surveillance operation authorized by Bush shortly after the 9-11 terror attacks.

“President Bush may believe he can authorize spying on Americans without judicial or congressional approval, but this program is illegal and we intend to put a stop to it,” ACLU Executive Director Anthony D. Romero said in a prepared statement.

Among the plaintiffs are Detroit area members of advocacy groups and lawyers who have been in touch with people in the Middle East.

A second suit was also filed today in U.S. District Court in New York City by the Center for Constitutional Rights. That suit, filed on behalf of the center and individuals, names President Bush, the head of the National Security Agency, and the heads of the other major security agencies.

...more...

[rodeodance]

23. best part of suit "names President Bush,...."

[htuttle]

24. That would mean he could be called to testify, right?

Wasn't it determined while Clinton was president that sitting presidents can be sued (and called to testify) in civil cases?

I hope they pursue that course. It sounds like a more effective way to get at the truth than expecting Congress to conduct a proper investigation.

[mom cat]

25. I would love to see him under oath!

[Catrina]

26. He is under oath. He swore to protect the Constitution.

Also, he has admitted publicly that he broke the law.

He has also been caught in another lie. He said that it was 9/11 that made him realize he had to 'protect the American people' (except for poor people in NO of course) and that's why he authorized the wire-tapping. But we now know that he was doing it before 9/11.

I hope there are many more lawsuits. I thought I read that the Quaker group he was spying on was planning to file a lawsuit also.

I wonder too if all those who have found they are on the 'no-fly' list, and have been refused information as to how they got there (like Moore, the author of Bush's Brain) could file a class-action suit now that it has been verified that domestic spying has been conducted on US citizens.

I read that they had made it impossible for people on the no-fly list to file law suits to find out why they are there.

However, this wire-tapping info was not available when people first found out about the no-fly list.

A different kind of suit, one to demand information by those on the no-fly list regarding whether this happened as a result of this latest information, might get around that law. Just wondering.

[mom cat]

32. That sounds like a good plan. People's civil rights are being

violated.


edit for sp.

[emad]

27. Groups Sue To Stop Bush Spy Program

Groups Sue To Stop Bush Spy Program

CBS/AP) Federal lawsuits were filed Tuesday seeking to block President Bush's domestic eavesdropping program, which civil rights groups call unconstitutional electronic surveillance of American citizens.

The U.S. District Court lawsuits were filed in New York by the Center for Constitutional Rights and in Detroit by the American Civil Liberties Union.

The New York suit, filed on behalf of the center and individuals, names Mr. Bush, the head of the National Security Agency, and the heads of the other major security agencies. It challenges the NSA's surveillance of persons within the United States without judicial approval or statutory authorization.

It seeks an injunction that would prohibit the government from conducting surveillance of communications in the United States without warrants.
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/01/17/politics/main1215238.shtml

[emad]

28. Al Gore: Bush must be probed

Al Gore: Bush must be probed
17/01/2006 09:17 - (SA)


Washington - Former vice-president Al Gore called for an independent investigation of President George W Bush's domestic spying programme, contending the president "repeatedly and insistently" broke the law by eavesdropping on Americans without court approval.

The man who lost the 2000 presidential election to Bush was interrupted repeatedly by applause on Monday as he called the anti-terrorism programme "a threat to the very structure of our government".

Gore charged that the administration acted without congressional authority and made a "direct assault" on a special federal court that authorised requests to eavesdrop on Americans.

One judge on the court resigned last month, voicing concerns about the National Security Agency's surveillance of emails and phone calls.

http://www.news24.com/News24/World/News/0,,2-10-1462_1864302,00.html

[rock]

30. "Bush must be probed"

Did he mean with a hot poker?

[joefree1]

29. If we don't win big in the elections this year

All the lawsuits in the world won't save us.

[AndyTiedye]

31. They Should Sue the Telecoms That Cooperated Too

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=364&topic_id=156232&mesg_id=156232

[MindPilot]

33. I was thinking that very thing as I read this thread

If it is proven that the spying was in fact a criminal act, then the telecoms are part of a conspiracy. There should be both civil and criminal penalties.

Should we each be writing to the CEO of our respective phone services and ISPs asking if they collaborated with the government in spying on American citizens and how they intend to prove they didn't? If they get enough questions, it would at the very least force the issue even more out into the open.