Illegal wire-tapping suit now in Obama's court

[Mugu]

Bob Egelko, Chronicle Staff Writer, sfgate.com

President-elect Barack Obama dismayed civil liberties groups last summer when he voted to authorize President Bush's clandestine wiretapping program after publicly denouncing it.

Now, thanks to a ruling by a San Francisco federal judge, Obama must take a stand on whether the Bush administration violated Americans' rights when it intercepted their phone calls and e-mails without seeking a court's permission.

The Jan. 5 decision by Chief U.S. District Judge Vaughn Walker revived the last remaining lawsuit against the program Bush authorized after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. Without seeking congressional approval or court warrants, the president ordered the National Security Agency to intercept calls and e-mails between Americans and suspected foreign terrorists.

Every other legal challenge to the program has been thwarted by its secrecy and the resulting inability of plaintiffs to prove they were a surveillance target. But Walker rejected the Bush administration's central argument for dismissal in the case being heard in San Francisco - that no one has the right to sue unless the government admits it conducted surveillance - and set the stage for a potentially decisive ruling on whether Bush exceeded his authority.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/01/19/MNJ7159LAP.DTL&tsp=1">Complete article

[ThomWV]

1. K&R - this should be on everyone's minds.