ACLU Urges Supreme Court to Take Warrantless Wiretapping Case

According to a press release from the American Civil Liberties Union, the civil rights group is urging the Supreme Court to accept a case based on the controversial warrant-less wiretapping program now in use by the United States Government.

The warrant-less wiretapping program began in 2001 when it was authorized by President Bush. The program became public knowledge in 2005, since then the program has endured many legal challenges from rights groups such as the American Civil Liberties Union, among others. Critics claim that the program is a violation of the Separation of Powers doctrine contained in the Constitution because it allows the federal government to place wiretaps on the phones of American citizens without a warrant from a judge. The program is referred to derisively as the Domestic Spying Program.

The first legal blow to the program came in 2006 when Judge Anna Digs Taylor ordered that the program be shut down. Judge Taylor's ruling rejected the Bush Administrations claim that the President is able to overlook laws that are deemed blockages in the way of intelligence gathering.

Judge Taylor reportedly stated that: "there are no hereditary kings in America and no power not granted by the constitution." Judge Taylor's ruling agreed with civil Rights groups assertions that the program was unconstitutional because it violated the separation of powers principle. Taylor further ruled that the program violated the 1st and 4th amendments along with violating the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act.

Judge Taylor's ruling was later overturned by a panel of three judges from the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals. The judicial panel dismissed the case after the Bush administration appealed Judge Taylor's ruling. The ACLU took care to point out that the panel did not rule in the administrations favor or uphold the legality of the warantless wiretapping program.

The panel dismissed the case because the plaintiff's could not say for certain that they had been a target of warantless surveillance. They were unable to do so because the government has not released a list of people targeted by the program.

The National Legal Director of the American Civil Liberties Union, Steven R. Shapiro had this to say about the case: "The president has claimed the power to disregard any law that, in his view, infringes on his ability to collect intelligence. The government should not be able to avoid scrutiny of its surveillance activities simply by refusing to identify the victims of its unlawful behavior."

The Director of the American Civil Liberties Union's National Security Project, Jameel Jaffer commented further: "Innocent people who are harmed by illegal government surveillance should be able to challenge that surveillance in court. It should not be left to executive branch officials alone to determine what limits apply to government surveillance and whether those limits are being honored."

The American Civil Liberties Union is now awaiting the Supreme Courts decision over whether it will hear the case.