US civil liberties groups filed lawsuits in federal courts in
New York and Detroit Tuesday, seeking to challenge the legality of
President George W. Bush's domestic eavesdropping program and
demanding its immediate ending.
The lawsuits, filed in federal court in New York by the Center
for Constitutional Rights (CCR) and in Detroit by the American
Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and other advocacy groups, sought a
court verdict that would prohibit the administration from
conducting surveillance of communications in the United States
without judicial warrants.
The New York suit named Bush and the heads of national security
agencies including Keith Alexander, director of the National
Security Agency (NSA), accusing Bush of exceeding his
constitutional powers and challenging the NSA's domestic spying
without judicial approval or statutory authorization.
Bush acknowledged last month that he had authorized the NSA to
monitor the international telephone calls and e-mails of US
citizens without court warrants in an effort to track terrorist
suspects.
The revelation of the program has set off a debate about
presidential powers, with both Democrats and Republicans
questioning whether the administration had exceeded its
constitutional limits.
Bush has sought to justify the program as the legal act of a
commander-in-chief in a time of war, saying a congressional
resolution passed after the 9/11 attacks authorizing him to use
force in the fight against terrorism had allowed him to order the
program.
But the CCR suit noted that federal law allows the president to
conduct warrantless surveillance during the first 15 days of a war
and allows court authorization of surveillance for foreign agents
or suspected terrorists.
The lawsuit said Bush "unilaterally and secretly authorized
electronic surveillance without judicial approval or congressional
authorization."
The ACLU lawsuit in Detroit, which also targeted the NAS and its
director, included other plaintiffs such as Greenpeace, the Council
on American-Islamic Relations and several individuals.
The ACLU said the spying program violates Americans' rights to
free speech and privacy under the First and Fourth Amendments of
the Constitution.
The lawsuit was filed on behalf of a group of prominent
journalists, scholars, attorneys, and national nonprofit
organizations 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 which has disrupted "their ability to talk with
sources, locate witnesses, conduct scholarship, and engage in
advocacy."
The New York Times reported last month that 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.
(Xinhua News Agency January 18, 2006)
