Obama DOJ defends warrantless wiretaps!

[David Farber <dave () farber net>]

Begin forwarded message:

From: Jim Warren <jwarren () well com>
Date: November 2, 2009 3:00:29 PM EST
To: Dave Farber <dave () farber net>
Subject: Obama DOJ defends warrantless wiretaps!

Is this change we can believe in?!  --jim

http://abcnews.go.com/Business/wireStory?id=8963381


Obama Administration: Toss Wiretap Lawsuit
National security cited in Obama administration bid to stop  
warrantless wiretap lawsuit
By DEVLIN BARRETT Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON October 31, 2009 (AP)

Attorney General Eric Holder says a lawsuit in San Francisco over  
warrantless wiretapping threatens to expose ongoing intelligence work  
and must be thrown out.

In making the argument, the Obama administration agreed with the Bush  
administration's position on the case but insists it came to the  
decision differently. A civil liberties group criticized the move  
Friday as a retreat from promises President Barack Obama made as a  
candidate.

Holder's effort to stop the lawsuit marks the first time the  
administration has tried to invoke the state secrets privilege under a  
new policy it launched last month designed to make such a legal  
argument more difficult.

Under the state secrets privilege, the government can have a lawsuit  
dismissed if hearing the case would jeopardize national security.

The Bush administration invoked the privilege numerous times in  
lawsuits over various post-9/11 programs, but the Obama administration  
recently announced that only a limited number of senior Justice  
Department officials would be able to make such decisions. It also  
agreed to provide confidential information to the courts in such cases.

Under the new approach, an agency trying to keep such information  
secret would have to convince the attorney general and a panel of  
Justice Department lawyers that its release would compromise national  
security.

...<SNIP>...




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