Eavesdropping law illegal, lawyers say

Eavesdropping law illegal, lawyers say

Guantanamo Bay Detainees' Lawyers Argue New Eavesdropping Law Is Illegal

PAUL ELIAS
AP News

Aug 09, 2007 21:24 EDT

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.

Source: AP News