Warrantless Wiretapping

05/21/2012

Supreme Court Will Hear ACLU Case Challenging Warrantless Wiretapping Law

By Josh Bell, Media Strategist, ACLU at 10:16am

The Supreme Court has just agreed to consider whether plaintiffs represented by the ACLU have the right to challenge the constitutionality of a controversial law that authorizes the National Security Agency to conduct dragnet surveillance of Americans’ international emails and phone calls.

At issue is an appeals court ruling that allowed the ACLU’s challenge to the law – called the FISA Amendments Act of 2008 – to move forward. Responding to today’s news, ACLU Deputy Legal Director Jameel Jaffer said:

05/14/2012

On the Agenda

On the Agenda: Week of May 14–18, 2012

By Suzanne Ito, ACLU at 12:39pm

This week the House will debate the NDAA for fiscal year 2013. We'll be monitoring the debate and pulling for an amendment that fixes the terrible detention provisions in last year's bill.

04/18/2012

Warrantless Wiretapping

ACLU Asks Supreme Court to Reject Government's Effort to Block Judicial Review of Surveillance Law

By Jameel Jaffer, Deputy Legal Director, ACLU at 1:15pm

In 2008, Congress enacted a statute that authorized the National Security Agency to carry out dragnet surveillance of Americans' international communications. Almost four years later, the statute — called the FISA Amendments Act — has yet to be reviewed by the courts, and, if the Obama administration has its way, the courts are unlikely ever to review it. In February, the administration asked the Supreme Court to overturn a court of appeals decision that would allow an ACLU challenge to the statute to go forward. Today we filed our brief in opposition, which asks the Supreme Court to let the appeals court's decision stand.

03/07/2012

Warrantless Wiretapping

Holder's Defense of Warrantless Wiretapping

By Alexander Abdo, Staff Attorney, ACLU National Security Project at 11:32am

Most of the attention on Attorney General Eric Holder's speech earlier this week has focused on his attempted justification of the government's policy on the targeted killing of U.S. citizens (you can read our reaction here). But also important (though mostly overlooked) was his brief but spirited defense of the most sweeping surveillance law ever passed by Congress—the FISA Amendments Act.

02/21/2012

Warrantless Wiretapping

Infographic: The NSA Unchained

By Ateqah Khaki at 1:20pm

Our new infographic details some of the ways the National Security Agency is spying on Americans.

02/17/2012

Warrantless Wiretapping

Obama Administration Asks Supreme Court to Dismiss ACLU Challenge to Warrantless Wiretapping Law

By Ateqah Khaki at 6:47pm

Today, the government asked the Supreme Court to overturn an appeals court ruling that allowed our lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of the 2008 FISA Amendments Act to go forward.

02/15/2012

Warrantless Wiretapping

A Brewing Battle Over Warrantless Wiretapping

By Jameel Jaffer, Deputy Legal Director, ACLU at 1:14pm

It's almost certain that we'll have a hard-fought battle over domestic surveillance this year, both in the courts and in Congress.

12/16/2011

Warrantless Wiretapping

RIP Hitch

By Jameel Jaffer, Deputy Legal Director, ACLU at 3:53pm

Christopher Hitchens had many rare qualities – he was contrarian, original, devastatingly brilliant, skeptical of almost everything – and I take pride in the fact that he was once an ACLU client. He was a plaintiff in our 2006 challenge to the Bush administration’s warrantless wiretapping program, a challenge that was sustained by the lower court but later dismissed on procedural grounds by a divided court of appeals.

09/22/2011

Warrantless Wiretapping

ACLU Lens: Court Rules Challenge to Warrantless Wiretapping Law Can Proceed

By Ateqah Khaki at 3:21pm

In a very significant development, yesterday a federal appeals court ruled that our lawsuit challenging warrantless wiretapping can proceed. The law that we’re challenging, the FISA Amendments Act (FAA) of 2008, is the most far-reaching surveillance law ever enacted by Congress. It gives the National Security Agency (NSA) virtually limitless power to spy on Americans' international phone calls and emails. It allows the NSA to collect those communications en masse, without a warrant, without suspicion of any kind, and with only very limited judicial oversight. Needless to say, the law has dramatic implications for Americans' privacy rights.

08/30/2011

Warrantless Wiretapping

Don't Let Phone Companies Off the Hook: Demanding Accountability for Warrantless Wiretapping

By Barbara Flynn Currie, Illinois House of Representatives, Majority Leader at 2:08pm

As we near the tenth anniversary of the terrorist attacks of 9/11, we can expect to see a number of retrospective pieces in print and broadcast offering commentary on changes to America in the decade since that shocking day.

American Civil Liberties Union