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Feb 19th, 2008
Posted by Suzanne Ito, ACLU at 3:26pm

Supreme Court Hears No Evil

This morning, we got some bad news: the Supreme Court turned down our petition for it to hear ACLU v. NSA, our landmark case against the Bush administration's warrantless wiretapping program. To recap, we won this case in district court in August 2006, with Judge Anna Diggs Taylor's eloquent "no hereditary Kings in America…" decision. The government appealed, and the Appeals Court ruled against us. We appealed that decision to the Supreme Court, and this morning, they declined to consider the case.

Now that the high court's refused to hear our claim against warrantless spying, we're hopeful that the other co-equal branch, the legislative, will hear our plea. Last week we applauded the House for standing up to the President's fear-mongering and outright lies about how FISA needs updating. The House allowed the Protect America Act to expire—U.S. intelligence agencies are now complying with the "old" FISA law, actually updated several times since its passage in 1978, which safeguards Americans' constitutional rights while still fighting terrorism effectively.

It's up to the House to decide whether Americans whose Fourth Amendment rights were wantonly violated by the phone companies and the NSA will have their day in court. Make your voice heard: Tell your representative to vote "no" on telecom immunity and "yes" on individual warrants to wiretap Americans.

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