ACLU Sues to Stop Illegal Spying on Americans, Saying President is Not Above the Law

PRN News ^ | January 17, 12:01 am ET | Unknown

[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.

[Jim Robinson]

"Because of the nature of their calls and e-mails, they believe their communications are being intercepted by the NSA under the spying program."

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.

[Rabble]

"These people are not only traitors, they are the enemy within."

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."

[kingu]

Asked and answered; this issue has already been handled by the courts. When acting in the capacity of the commander in chief, the president has broad wartime powers. Congress authorized the president, after 9/11, to conduct wartime actions against any current or future terrorists...

While there might be a judge or two in the system who is willing to play politics (oh, stop laughing at me..) the reality is that to allow this lawsuit to succeed would effectively make any wartime action by a sitting president be reviewable by a court of law.

My guess? The second judge to look at this will toss it out of court for lack of evidence. The parties have no proof that they've been spied upon, and the possibility that they might be isn't enough to justify trampling the constitution. The third judge might decide to warn the executive that any evidence collected can not be admitted into a court of law, and that will be the end of the story.

I don't think it'll reach the SCOTUS; too much established law in this arena. Oddly enough, the ACLU is doing us a favor. Not only will it reconfirm an already established precedent, but it also might get some of these wackos to get back to providing evidence. After all, it is safe to talk now - the ACLU is suing the US government.

Oh, and just in case the ACLU finds a miracle path with an incredible argument, the worst case scenario is that the NSA has to turn over that intelligence to the Brits or someone else to analyze. I don't think it'll reach that point, but you never know these days.

Oh, and those who were sitting on the fence with the ACLU won't find this to be tasteful. Protecting a reporter might interest them, but wholesale going after the administration on a matter of national defense will make them radioactive to all but the most hardcore liberal, and those hardcore liberals have enough things to spend their money on.

Someone at the ACLU didn't think this one through.

The only real downside is that congress neglected to identify the type of terrorist that the president is supposed to fight; these same powers could be turned around to be used on any number of people. We have a horribly honest president right now, we won't always. We have to do everything in our power to ensure that no one sits in that chair that is not able to first distinguish who is a threat, and who is a political opponent.

[Howlin]

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1559291/posts

[right-wingin_It]

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?

[Gabz]

Total idiocy, isn't it?

[Howlin]

http://archives.cnn.com/2002/LAW/11/18/spy.court.ruling/

[Pukin Dog]

Look for Hitchens to disassociate himself from this before the week is over.

[Bullitt]

Please tell me that the NSA has been watching these traitors at the ACLU closely.

[Howlin]

According to news reports, President Bush signed an order in 2002 allowing the NSA to monitor the telephone and e-mail communications of "hundreds, perhaps thousands, of people inside the United States" with persons abroad, without a court order as the law requires. Under the program, the NSA is also engaging in wholesale datamining by sifting through millions of calls and e- mails of ordinary Americans.

Not ONE WORD of that is proven; it's just made up crap.

[Howlin]

Gore Planned to Bug America

http://www.newsmax.com/archives/articles/2001/11/15/173810.shtml

[Gabz]

Not ONE WORD of that is proven; it's just made up crap.

Tell a lie enough..........

[Howlin]

turn on Fox

[Gabz]

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 :)

[Nateman]

Thanks for the link. Knowing the Clinton's they wanted all that power so that they could abuse it on a daily basis.

[mattdono]

So, this program keeps being reported as a "vast wiretapping program", right?

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.

[Nasher]

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.

[Wil H]

Guess you never heard of ECHELON then...?

[Wil H]

Sorry, correction...

"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...?

[mfulstone]