Posted on 08/09/2007 10:27:06 PM PDT by NormsRevenge
SAN FRANCISCO - Lawyers for Guantanamo Bay detainees asked a federal judge Thursday to invalidate a days-old law that lets government agents eavesdrop on suspected terrorists without first getting court-approved warrants.
They said the measure signed into law Sunday by President Bush is illegal because it gives the national intelligence director and the U.S. attorney general too much power to intercept communications of suspected terrorists overseas — even when they are talking to someone in the United States.
The New York-based Center for Constitutional Rights' lawsuit, along with about 50 others, are all being considered by U.S. District Court Judge Vaughn Walker in San Francisco.
Center attorney Michael Avery said that what is called the Protect America Act "redefined the term of electronic surveillance and gives the government new powers, extraordinary powers, unprecedented powers."
In court documents filed Wednesday, government lawyers argued that the law's passage is enough legal grounds for a judge to toss out the Guantanamo detainees' lawsuit.
The center first sued the government last year after The New York Times revealed that the Bush administration had approved a warrantless eavesdropping program in late 2001. The center wants a judge to bar the government from eavesdropping on anyone in the United States without first obtaining a warrant.
The center argues that the program jeopardizes its ability to represent clients with suspected Al Qaeda ties because it cannot be sure that confidential telephone calls and e-mail correspondence with the Cuba detainees and their families overseas will stay private.
The center said Thursday that it also intends to argue in its suit that the new law is unconstitutional.
Government lawyers appearing in court declined to address the constitutionality of the new law, saying that argument is not yet part of the center's lawsuit against President Bush. But they have already gone on record stating their belief that the eavesdropping program is legal.
Also, government lawyer Anthony Coppolino said the government would have to reveal sensitive national security secrets to defend itself.
Walker ruled last year against the government's claim that to defend itself would require divulging security secrets and harm the war on terror. Walker ruled that there was little danger of that because the government's warrantless eavesdropping efforts have already been publicly exposed in the media.
Walker did not make a ruling Thursday.
The government's appeal will be heard Wednesday in San Francisco by a three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.
"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." - Manuel II Palelologus
It wouldn’t surprise me to see the Ninth Circus help these bums out and have to be overturned by SCOTUS again.
“The center argues that the program jeopardizes its ability to represent clients with suspected Al Qaeda ties because it cannot be sure that confidential telephone calls and e-mail correspondence with the Cuba detainees and their families overseas will stay private.”
Nothing quite like throwing a rock into a pack of dogs and seeing which one yelps first, LOL.
That says it all. And it'll be appealed to the 9th Circus, the most overturned circuit EVER. Bunch of bozos.
Hmmmmm ..?? I didn’t know a MACHINE was called the US Attorney General.
That’s right .. the PERSON listening is a MACHINE. The machine is listening to conversations between SUSPECTED TERRORISTS or KNOWN TERRORISTS in and out of the USA.
Whenever the machine picks up a suspect word [don’t know how that’s programmed] then the call is listened to .. only then is the conversation recorded .. and only then is the conversation further interpreted by humans.
I heard this explanation from someone who helps run the program - I think they were testifying before congress.
This is NOT DOMESTIC SPYING.
You are right about how the computer filters words. It is kind of like a funnel. It looks for certian words and phrases in sentences. If it hears these words, it filters it down more. The closer it gets to the bottom of the funnel, the more it monitors that certian call. It is also programmed to look for “Key words”.
Nominated by George H.W. Bush on September 7, 1989.
Oh .. well .. in that case, everything is alright.
Good things are starting to happen in and for America ... I sure hope no 'group' of noo yeowk loy yahs trumps proper law.
My captors torment me with too much prayer time and a new Koran,
My friends are all here with me.
In my despair, I have nothing but entertainment for comfort,
For it is television which sustains me in my horribly cozy quarters
Surrounded by a disgusting lack of filth and no want for toiletries
To which I am a stranger.
May I live to see a day unfilled by placid contemplation, exercise and good meals!
May I live to flee from this free expert medical care!
May Allah be praised-ooh, a Twinkie!
BULL before WWII we were intercepting the communications to the Japanese embassy and in many cases had them translated before the embassy.
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