NSA Eavesdropping Program Ruled Unconstitutional

A federal judge on Thursday ruled that the U.S. government's domestic eavesdropping program is unconstitutional and ordered it ended immediately.

Attorney General Alberto Gonzales said the Bush Administration disagrees with the ruling and has appealed.

"We also believe very strongly that the program is lawful," he said in Washington, adding that the program is "reviewed periodically" by lawyers to determine its effectiveness and ensure lawfulness.

The administration secretly instituted the program after the September 11, 2001, attacks on New York and Washington. It gives the National Security Administration authorization to secretly conduct wiretaps without a court order.

In a statement from the White House, Press Secretary Tony Fox said, "The program is carefully administered and targets only international phone calls coming into or out of the United States where one of the parties on the call is a suspected al Qaeda or affiliated terrorist.

The decision is 44 pages and is available here. I will comment more on this once I get a chance to read the decision.

What I found interesting was the list of Plaintiffs in this action:

The complaint was filed in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan, based in Detroit. Plaintiffs included branches of the American Civil Liberties Union, the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, the Washington and Detroit branches of the Council on American-Islamic Relations and Greenpeace.

Greenpeace? How did they get mixed up with the ACLU, and CAIR? Politics makes strange bedfellows. You have a group allegedly dedicated to upholding the highest standards of the constitution, a group acused of maintaining terrorist ties, and a group dedicated to saving the wales. I understand the ACLU and CAIR challenging the NSA's actions. But why Greenpeace? What is their angle?

What I do know is that this decision weekens this country's ability to fight terrorisim. The government will appeal, and the loser of the appeal will appeal to the Supreme Court. Unfortunitaly, unless there is a stay of this decision, the decision takes effect immediately.