ACLU asks Supreme Court to hear appeal of wiretap ruling
From Kevin Bohn
CNN Washington Bureau
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- In what it calls an unprecedented action, the American Civil Liberties Union, along with a coalition of other civil liberties groups, is asking the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn new, more lenient standards for wiretaps in foreign intelligence investigations.
The case is unusual because the groups are suing on behalf of people who are under surveillance by the government, but the groups don't know the identities of the people under surveillance, how many people are involved or where they are.
The coalition filed its request with the nation's high court Tuesday. If it takes the case, it would be the first opportunity for the Supreme Court to rule on the constitutionality of such wiretaps, known as FISAs for the act they are named after -- the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act.
Last November the U.S. Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court of Review, in its first ruling, decided behind closed doors that the Justice Department could meet what the civil rights groups consider more lenient standards in deciding when this type of wiretap could be used.
Before the Patriot Act, foreign intelligence had to be a "primary" purpose of the investigation. Now, foreign intelligence has to be a "significant" purpose. The court overseeing the issuance of wiretaps had ruled against that interpretation last year, saying it was too broad.
Although the groups petitioning the Supreme Court are not parties to the decision, they argued in their motion they should be allowed to appeal the ruling because the issue "should not be finally adjudicated by courts that sit in secret" and by courts that "allow only the government to appear before them."
Justice Department officials emphasize that under law, prosecutors still have to show the court that would grant such wiretaps probable cause that the target of the surveillance is a "foreign power" or an "agent of a foreign power," and that there has been no relaxation of the basic requirements that must be met.
"We do not enter into this litigation lightly," said Ziad Asali, president of the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee, one of the groups asking the Supreme Court to take the case. "We firmly believe that these expanded powers erode the functionality and checks and balances of our judicial system."
