warrantless wiretapping, catch-22?

Bush’s warrantless wiretapping program
The administration acknowledged it intercepted U.S. telephone conversations without warrants through its hunt for terrorists. Whose calls? The government isn’t saying. And since only those who were spied on have grounds to sue, it’s almost impossible to mount a successful legal challenge.

A federal appeals court in Ohio dismissed one such challenge because the American Civil Liberties Union and other groups could not prove the government had listened to their conversations.

The court did not rule on whether the program was constitutional.

Unless the government decides to release information about its wiretaps,  the Justice Department said Monday the constitutional question may never be answered.

Attorneys for an Islamic charity say they can prove just that.

Because of a government mix-up, the Al-Haramain Islamic Foundation received what charity attorneys said was a National Security Administration log of calls intercepted between the charity and its lawyers. Armed with that information, the charity is challenging the program in a San Francisco court.

The Justice Department refuses to say whether the charity’s calls were intercepted, but it wants the case thrown out because defending it would require the government to disclose state secrets.  Asked whether the Justice Department saw any way someone could challenge the surveillance program, the official replied, ”In the current context, ‘No.”’

Src: NYTimes Article on Secrecy, the Spy Program’s defense

Fred Soto is an Attorney and Entrepreneur from the Silicon Valley.
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