Court Dismisses Lawsuit Against U.S. Wiretapping

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http://www.afterdowningstreet.org/?q=node/24427

Submitted by Chip on Sun, 2007-07-08 05:34. Criminal Prosecution

Court Dismisses Lawsuit Against U.S. Wiretapping

A U.S. appeals court orders a lawsuit against the U.S. National Security Agency for a wiretapping program dismissed.

A U.S. appeals court has ordered that a lawsuit against the U.S. National Security Agency (NSA) for a wiretapping program be dismissed because the plaintiffs haven't been hurt by the agency's actions.

A divided three-judge panel for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit ruled Friday that the lawsuit, brought by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and a group of journalists, lawyers and academics, be sent back to a district court judge to be dismissed. In August 2006, Judge Anna Diggs Taylor of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan ruled the NSA program, which monitored telephone and Internet communications without court-ordered warrants, was illegal.

The appeals court ruled that the plaintiffs didn't prove they'd been affected by the NSA's Terrorist Surveillance Program, authorized by U.S. President George Bush in 2002. The program allowed the NSA to monitor communications between U.S. residents and people in other countries with suspected ties to terrorist group al Qaeda.

The plaintiffs argued, among other things, that the program violated the U.S. Constitution's Fourth Amendment, protecting U.S. citizens against unreasonable search and seizure. But none of the plaintiffs could prove their Fourth-Amendment rights had been violated, wrote appeals court Judge Alice Batchelder.

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