July 25, 2006
FOR
IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT:
media@aclu.org
CHICAGO, IL -- U.S. District Court Judge Matthew Kennelly today
granted a motion by the United States Department of Justice to dismiss a lawsuit
brought by the American Civil Liberties Union of Illinois on behalf of Chicago
author Studs Terkel and other prominent Chicagoans challenging the actions of
telephone giant AT&T in divulging the telephone records of its customers to
the federal government without lawful authorization. The court agreed with
the government’s argument that the need to protect “state secrets” necessitated
dismissing the lawsuit.
The following statement can be
attributed to ACLU of Illinois Legal Director Harvey Grossman:
We respectfully disagree with the court. A private
company – AT&T – should not be able to escape accountability for violating a
federal statute and the privacy of their customers on the basis that a program
widely discussed in public is secret. Members of Congress publicly
discussed the program of gathering data from telephone companies without lawful
authorization in violation of existing federal law.
We
believe that innocent Americans – including our clients in this case – should
have a venue through the courts for vindicating their rights against the abuses
and overreach of the executive branch. We are consulting with our
clients and will consider our options for future actions.
For more information on the Illinois lawsuit and other ACLU challenges to NSA
spying, go to www.aclu.org/nsaspying
