Posted on 01/16/2006 9:54:03 PM PST by Jay777
Prominent Journalists, Nonprofit Groups, Terrorism Experts and Community Advocates Join First Lawsuit to Challenge New NSA Spying Program
NEW YORK, Jan. 17 /PRNewswire/ -- Saying that the Bush administration's illegal spying on Americans must end, the American Civil Liberties Union today filed a first-of-its-kind lawsuit against the National Security Agency seeking to stop a secret electronic surveillance program that has been in place since shortly after September 11, 2001. "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," said ACLU Executive Director Anthony D. Romero. "The current surveillance of Americans is a chilling assertion of presidential power that has not been seen since the days of Richard Nixon."
The lawsuit was filed on behalf of a group of prominent journalists, scholars, attorneys, and national nonprofit organizations (including the ACLU) who frequently communicate by phone and e-mail with people in the Middle East. Because of the nature of their calls and e-mails, they believe their communications are being intercepted by the NSA under the spying program. The program is disrupting their ability to talk with sources, locate witnesses, conduct scholarship, and engage in advocacy. The program, which was first disclosed by The New York Times on December 16, has sparked national and international furor and has been condemned by lawmakers across the political spectrum.
(Excerpt) Read more at biz.yahoo.com ...
Hopefully this will directly to the 'new' supreme court, complete with Alito and Roberts.
...is this the same outfit that wanted us to believe that Bill Clinton's purgery wasn't "an impeachable offense"?
Who's above the law now?
These people are not only traitors, they are the enemy within.
Why isn't the ACLU suing state governments who are daily infringing on the rights of private businesses?
This post show have a L.U.U. (laugh until urinate) Alert. The ACLU is so laughable, they are a complete joke.
I agree.
I posted this earlier today:
I am rereading The Fifth Horseman by Larry Collins this week; it is about Libyia putting a hydrogen bomb in NYC.
On page 133 of a 470 page book:
"A few miles away at Fort Meade, Maryland, some of the twenty thousand employees of the National Security Agency skimmed through the most complex and sophisticated computer facilities in the world. Stored on them were the harvest of the NSA's world-wide eavesdropping systems, global electronic vacuum cleaners that scooped rations transmissions and telephone calls from the atmosphere, broek them down into key categories for rapid retrieval, then dumped them onto the NSA's computer. The information stored there had already allowed the NSA to foil a major terrorist operation on United States soil. Now the heirs to cryptologists who had broken Japan's naval code in World War II hunted for the word, the phrase, the message that would allow the FBI to foil this one."
Copyright on this book? 1980!
How could they NOT know what has been going on for years????
How terrible would it be to hound ACLU attorneys by pulling them over and making a citizen's arrest for driving under the influence?
If they don't test out for alcohol, just accuse them of being under the influence of Satan. Something.
Maybe spray their lawn put a dog in heat in their mailbox or something.
I'm joking, of course, but these guys drive me nuts!
I think that the majority of Americans have fogotten about 911 and they have buried their heads in the sand rather than remember the horror of SEPTEMBER 11.
fogotton = forgotten
This is not a joke. This is real life. This group should be completley destroyed within the law & if not - without the law. Way too much talk'in on this internet w/o any action against these commies.
How are any of these things curtailed because they now "know" what they already surely should have known for years -- that unencrypted phone calls can always be intercepted.
We aren't allowed to say anything of importance on unsecured phone lines. If the U.S. wasn't listening, you can be sure that the countries in the middle east are monitoring every phone call that comes into their countries.
Are these people so naive as to believe that the agreements the phone companies must sign with Egypt, Syria, Saudi Arabia, Iran, et. al don't include as a matter of course the ability of those countries to listen in to all the conversations?
Or don't they really care if the evil dictators of those countries know what they are saying, because they assume those dictators will be happy with what they hear?
Sorry to hear about Hitchens, kinda liked him. Nonetheless, it's sad that Bush has to fight these people in addition to the terrorists.
i want to see what Dems jump on board this suit. My guess. Zero. They sure talk a good game though.
As if it wasn't expected...what took them so long?
Must have been asleep during the Clinton regime which not only illegally released personal information on whistle-blowers they also used the IRS to harass them. (IF not outright mafia like threats and intimidation!)Clinton was Nixon with charisma and without the integrity.
I felt the same way when I saw his name.
When we will EVER learn?
Now what in the world is the ACLU doing communicating with the enemy? And if they are, I certainly hope the NSA is recording their calls. It's part of their job to catch spies.
I believe that the following would apply to the ACLU:
Cicero said: "A nation can survive its fools and even the ambitious. But it cannot survive treason from within. An enemy at the gates is less formidable, for he is known and he carries his banners openly against the city. But the traitor moves among those within the gates freely, his sly whispers rustling through all alleys, heard in the very halls of government itself. For the traitor appears no traitor; he speaks in the accents familiar to his victim, and he wears their face and their garments and he appeals to the baseness that lies deep in the hearts of all men. He rots the soul of a nation; he works secretly and unknown in the night to undermine the pillars of a city; he infects the body politic so that it can no longer resist. A murderer is less to be feared. The traitor is the plague."
Have people ever tried suing the ACLU in an offensive way. I'm talking about suing the organization itself, funding, operation, tax status, etc...Anything?
Total idiocy, isn't it?
Please tell me that the NSA has been watching these traitors at the ACLU closely.
Not ONE WORD of that is proven; it's just made up crap.
Gore Planned to Bug America
http://www.newsmax.com/archives/articles/2001/11/15/173810.shtml
Tell a lie enough..........
turn on Fox
Nope, won't do it - I've gone all day without the TV on and have not intentions of changing that right now.
And it was a pretty impressive feat, considering the 7yo was home all day today and no TV ever got turned on :)
Thanks for the link. Knowing the Clinton's they wanted all that power so that they could abuse it on a daily basis.
Ok...everything that I have read, even from THE SOURCE (James Riesen, the author of the new book and the now-identified source for the original NY Times article that broke the story), says that there were 500 Americans that had their phones tapped. And for all 500, their phone number was found on the computer or cell phone of captured Al Qeada operative.
Five hundred. Approximate population of the United States is 300 Million.
So, precisely 0.0000017 of the American population MIGHT have had their terrorist-connected phone calls monitored.
Forgive me if I'm not shocked, stunned, and dismayed that 0.0000017 of the American population, all of whom have known ties to a terrorist organization, had their phones tapped.
I'm so sick of this crap that the Libs continue to try and push.
These are incoming calls from terrorists to people inside of the United States whom are NOT EVEN NECESSARILY AMERICANS. It's amazing to watch the Libs and their MSM buddies keep spinning this into "spying on all Americans".
Here's a tip for all the ACLU backers: Don't want to worry about your calls being monitored? Don't accept that call from that overseas terrorist and you have nothing to worry about. Geez.
"The current surveillance of Americans is a chilling assertion of presidential power that has not been seen since the days of Richard Nixon."
Guess they never heard of ECHELON then...?
Yep, done deal pretty much - the worst could happen is NSA gets reminded the evidence won't be admissible. But who needs it admissible ? Pick up the bastards for an immigration violation. Send his ass out to where they came from so that Jordanian/Egyptian/Russian/Polish secret services can have a little chit chat, and we're done.
There's a reason there hasn't been any attacks here since 9/11. Now I'm getting worried again, since the bastards started buying disposable phones. Thanks to liberals.
Randy "Duke" Cunningham called into a talk show last year, probably some fill-in for Rush, and said he would go after awarding attorney fees in certain civil rights violation cases (Section 1983 cases). That seems to be the life blood of ACLU and the club they threaten little towns with when they want Crosses on public property dismantled. The Duke left some unfinished business when he departed Congress recently. Maybe that's why he was exposed.
ACLU, go back to Moscow where you came from. You'll need warmer clothes.
And the sorry no good SOBs are using mine and your tax money to do support the terrorist.
How many times does that happen... I was about to keyword this "ENEMYWITHIN" and when I went to click on "add keyword" it was already there...
The ACLU LOST in 2002 and they want to sue AGAIN? ACLU... insanity is thy name. (see post 27)
Does this mean, in theory, a President has the power to ban private ownership of guns?
If the ACLU sues and it either gets tossed or they lose then it's another case law in the Presidents Belt as long as the administration says nothing about the details of the program.
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