"Civil liberties groups fire double-barreled lawsuits at President Bush"

[Bush_Eats_Beef]

http://www.masnet.org/news.asp?id=3109

NEW YORK, Jan 17 (MASNET & News Agencies) - Civil liberties groups fired double-barreled lawsuits at President 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).

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. The CCR suit, challenging the NSA's surveillance of persons within the United States without judicial approval or statutory authorization, named Bush and Army Lt. Gen. Keith Alexander, director of the National Security Agency (NSA), which ran the program.

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 the president 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.

[applegrove]

1. Yeah ACLU & others!

[democrank]

2. Maybe these lawsuits

will wipe the smirk off Bush`s face.

[RC]

3. For someone who thinks laws are for others, his handlers most

likely won't even tell bu$h about them.

[thecrow]

4. They will call it a frivolous lawsuit......!

Oh wait, they already did.

[annabanana]

5. If they come before Alito & Roberts...

they will come to nothing.

PUSH for the filibuster. It really really matters.