On June 12, a hearing took place in federal court in Detroit in a lawsuit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and the ACLU of Michigan in January against the National Security Agency (NSA). The lawsuit, filed as part of campaign being conducted by the ACLU on behalf of journalists, scholars, attorneys, and non-profit organizations, is one of twenty lawsuits filed across the country against the NSA’s domestic surveillance program. The June 12 arguments focused on the legality of the program with a July 10 hearing scheduled in response to a government request for dismal citing their argument that arguing the case could compromise “state secrets.” However, ACLU of Michigan Executive Director Kary L. Moss, has argued that the government is “hiding behind” the “state secrets” provision to cover up the fact that the program is illegal. In court last week, the ACLU argued that the program violates the First and Fourth Amendment rights of United States citizens and by illegally circumventing the Federal Intelligence Surveillance Act, undermines the separation of powers.
The ACLU has publicized the story of Nazih Hassan, an Arab-American, as an example of the type of person who is a potential target in Michigan of NSA surveillance. Hassan, who became a legal resident of the United States in 2001, is employed as a technology consultant in Ypsilanti who also is extensively involved in working for peace and justice in his community. According to information provided by the ACLU, Hassan has publicly spoken against the war in Iraq, the detention of Muslims, and the infringement on Muslims’ civil liberties. Because of his activism and his communications with family, friends, and activists overseas, Hassan is concerned that he may be a target of government surveillance. Hassan has stated that the NSA program has made him “reluctant and fearful to discuss current events” with the aforementioned people. Other targets of surveillance represented in ACLU suits around the country also believe that they have been targeted for their political activities and beliefs.
The Ann Arbor-based news program BlackBox Radio aired a report this week on the lawsuit with background information and commentary from Ann Beeson, who argued the case on June 12 in Michigan. Beeson talks at length about how President George W. Bush and the federal government have argued that “executive power” allows for the warrant-less wiretapping. She analyzes this position, explaining that despite extensive usage by the Bush administration to justify everything from the detention of thousands of Middle Eastern men after 9/11 to torture, the “executive power” defense has no legal basis. No such power is outlined in the United States’ constitution, and as Beeson points out, the constitution was written in the context of colonial reaction to King George who was raiding houses in order to look for a reason to through colonists in jail and that First and Fourth Amendments were specifically designed to protect citizens from government snooping. Additionally, the separation of powers was written into the constitution to prevent the centralization of power within the executive branch.
The laws governing surveillance—the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA)—establish clear guidelines that the government must follow in order to conduct surveillance. The ACLU has argued that the violation of the FISA laws after the Congress rejected the Bush administration’s request for increased surveillance powers, was illegal and that it has caused “concrete and extensive harm” by interfering with the ability of reporters to report on the war on terror or defend clients. Despite the Bush administration’s claims that FISA is occasionally too restrictive and hence must be ignored, of the 20,000 requests for domestic wire tapping surveillance since FISA’s passage twenty-five years ago, only 5 have been rejected.
For more on the Michigan court case and other NSA cases, visit the ACLU’s NSA Lawsuit site.
