ACLU vs. the Patriot Act; gag orders and ex parte contacts

[teryang]

I posted this on a civil rights forum thread but I think it needs broader consideration.


http://www.aclu.org/SafeandFree/SafeandFree.cfm?ID=16308&c=262

ACLU Aug. 18

<Today, in its challenge to Section 215 of the Patriot Act, the ACLU filed a motion to exclude classified portions of a government affidavit that were provided only to the court. The government has asked the court to consider this secret evidence in deciding whether to dismiss the ACLU’s constitutional challenge to the law.

The lawsuit, filed in Detroit in July 2003, challenges the FBI’s unprecedented power under Section 215 to access medical, library and other private records without a subpoena or a warrant based on probable cause. The judge has not yet ruled on the government’s pending motion to dismiss the case.

In the second case, filed in New York in April of this year, the ACLU is challenging the FBI’s authority to use National Security Letters to demand sensitive customer records from Internet Service Providers and other businesses without judicial oversight. Here, the government has submitted a secret affidavit without providing any justification for the secrecy or any indication of the nature or scope of the evidence.

The ACLU filed the National Security Letter case under seal to avoid the risk of violating a Patriot Act gag provision. Since filing the case, the ACLU has repeatedly clashed with the government over its insistence on suppressing even innocuous, non-sensitive information about the case. <snip>

ACLU Aug. 19

http://www.aclu.org/SafeandFree/SafeandFree.cfm?ID=16273&c=262

<NEW YORK - The government is using gag orders and secret evidence to keep the public in the dark about its use of the Patriot Act to investigate Americans, the American Civil Liberties Union said today.<snip>

In two legal challenges to controversial provisions of the Patriot Act brought by the ACLU and other groups, the government has filed secret evidence that it is refusing to disclose to the public and even to the attorneys in the case. <snip>

<Today, in its challenge to Section 215 of the Patriot Act, the ACLU filed a motion to exclude classified portions of a government affidavit that were provided only to the court. The government has asked the court to consider this secret evidence in deciding whether to dismiss the ACLU’s constitutional challenge to the law. <snip>

<In the second case, filed in New York in April of this year, the ACLU is challenging the FBI’s authority to use National Security Letters to demand sensitive customer records from Internet Service Providers and other businesses without judicial oversight. Here, the government has submitted a secret affidavit without providing any justification for the secrecy or any indication of the nature or scope of the evidence. <snip>

The email I received from the ACLU had a bug on it. Maybe they just wanted to know if I opened the mail. My security system regards this as a security intrusion. If the ACLU does this they should stop it. It was entitled "Stop Congress from Repeating the Mistakes of the Patriot Act" and refers to Congress taking "rapid action" on the recommendations of the 911 commission which will entail further attacks on constitutional rights and privacy protections.