Civil Liberties Groups File Lawsuits Over Domestic SpyingMuslim American Society
NEW YORK, Jan 17 - Civil liberties groups fired double-barreled lawsuits at George W. Bush, challenging the legality of his domestic eavesdropping program and demanding its immediate suspension. The suits were filed in New York by the Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR), and in Detroit by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), and a host of other advocacy groups, reports Agence France-Presse (AFP). [Yes, of COURSE, the report comes from outside this county.]
Calling it an "illegal and unconstitutional program" of electronic eavesdropping on American citizens, both actions sought an injunction that would prohibit the government from conducting surveillance of communications in the United States without judicial warrants.... [How would they be able to enforce an injunction against something that is being done secretly, I wonder?]
CCR legal director Bill Goodman noted that the legal action was being taken a day after the national holiday celebrating black civil rights leader Martin Luther King, who was the focus of FBI wiretaps for years. "We are saddened that the illegal electronic surveillance that once targeted that great American has again become characteristic of our present government," Goodman said.
"As was the case with Dr. King, this illegal activity is cloaked in the guise of national security.
Goodman portrayed [Bush] as a man on an unprecedented power grab at the expense of basic democratic principles, reports the Associated Press (AP). "In reality, it reflects an attempt by the Bush administration to exercise unchecked power without the inconvenient interference of the other co-equal branches of government," said Goodman. [Amen to that.]
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