Eavesdropping Law Illegal, (Gitmo) Lawyers Say (New FISA Gets First Legal Challenge)

Eavesdropping law illegal, lawyers say

PAUL ELIAS
AP News
Aug 09, 2007 21:24 EDT
Lawyers for Guantanamo Bay detainees asked a federal judge Thursday to invalidate a days-old law that lets government agents eavesdrop on suspected terrorists without first getting court-approved warrants. They said the measure signed into law Sunday by President Bush is illegal because it gives the national intelligence director and the U.S. attorney general too much power to intercept communications of suspected terrorists overseas even when they are talking to someone in the United States.
The New York-based Center for Constitutional Rights' lawsuit, along with about 50 others, are all being considered by U.S. District Court Judge Vaughn Walker in San Francisco.
In court documents filed Wednesday, government lawyers argued that the law's passage is enough legal grounds for a judge to toss out the Guantanamo detainees' lawsuit.
The center argues that the program jeopardizes its ability to represent clients with suspected Al Qaeda ties because it cannot be sure that confidential telephone calls and e-mail correspondence with the Cuba detainees and their families overseas will stay private. The center said Thursday that it also intends to argue in its suit that the new law is unconstitutional.
Walker did not make a ruling Thursday. The government's appeal will be heard Wednesday in San Francisco by a three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.
LinkHere