ACLU Seeking Rulings Issued On Warrantless Wiretapping

By Dan Eggen
Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, August 18, 2007

A secret U.S. intelligence court has ordered the Bush administration to register its views about a records request by the American Civil Liberties Union, which wants the court to release a series of pivotal orders issued earlier this year about the National Security Agency’s wiretapping program.

The move is highly unusual, because the court — which approves warrants for electronic surveillance within the United States by intelligence and counterterrorism agencies — operates in almost total secrecy and has made only one ruling public in its 29-year history.

In a scheduling order issued Thursday and released yesterday by the ACLU, the chief judge of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court instructed the government to respond to the ACLU’s request by Aug. 31. The civil liberties group has until Sept. 14 to file its own response.

“This is an unprecedented request that warrants further briefing,” wrote U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly, who serves as the intelligence court’s presiding judge.

ACLU Executive Director Anthony D. Romero said in a statement that “we’re extremely encouraged by today’s development because it means that, at long last, the government will be required to defend its contention that the orders should not be released.”

Nosey ACLU Needs To Be Shut Up
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