May 22, 2006
FOR
IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT:
media@aclu.org CHICAGO -- Celebrated Chicago
author Studs Terkel and prominent leaders in the medical, legal, political and
faith communities today filed a federal lawsuit charging that telephone giant
AT&T violated their privacy by secretly sharing the telephone records of
millions of Americans with the National Security Agency. The secret
program was revealed in a May 11, 2006 article in USA Today.
The prominent Chicago area professionals, who are represented by
the American Civil Liberties Union if Illinois, noted their special concerns
with the government's gathering of the phone records of innocent
Americans. As a journalist, for example, Mr. Terkel wants the capacity to
keep sources secret from government scrutiny. Lawyers, doctors and clergy
members rely upon confidentiality in order to best serve their clients, patients
and congregants. Elected officials rely on the ability to strategize
and communicate with allies and others without the federal executive branch
monitoring their activities.
In addition to Mr.
Terkel, the other plaintiffs in the case filed in federal district court in
Chicago today include: Barbara Flynn Currie, Majority Leader of the Illinois
House of Representatives; Rabbi Gary Gerson of Oak Park Temple; Professor Diane
Geraghty, Director of the Civitas ChildLaw Center at Loyola University School of
Law, Chicago; James Montgomery, former Corporation Counsel for the City of
Chicago; and, Dr. Quentin Young, a physician and advocate for health care
reform.
"Having been blacklisted from working in television
during the McCarthy era, I know the harm of government using private
corporations to intrude into the lives of innocent Americans," said
Terkel. "When government uses the telephone companies to create massive
databases of all our phone calls it has gone too far."
The group of renowned plaintiffs contends that AT&T violated
their individual right to engage in telephone conversations without government
monitoring under the Electronic Communications Privacy Act. That
law, according to the complaint, prohibits any entity providing "an electronic
communication service" from divulging the records of customers to governmental
agencies.
Without consent of customers or other lawful
certification authorized by a court order, according to published reports, the
National Security Agency sought the records of tens of millions of telephone
customers in the United States. Indeed, when Denver-based Qwest
Communications asked the NSA for the legal authority behind their request to
that company for telephone records, the NSA discontinued the
request.
"For the individuals we represent today, the
ability to act without government oversight and intrusion is critical to the
function of their profession," said Harvey Grossman, Legal Director of the ACLU
of Illinois. "The NSA program, if unchecked, interferes with the ability
of lawyers to deal with clients, doctors to treat their patients and clergy to
counsel members of their congregation."
The plaintiffs have
asked the federal court to certify a class of Illinois residents who use
AT&T for telephone service and to enjoin AT&T from divulging any further
information to the NSA. The plaintiffs will seek a prompt hearing on
their request for a preliminary injunction.
"The disclosure
of the NSA program was of grave concern to me," added James Montgomery,
Chicago's former Corporation Counsel. "If people seeking legal
advice or representation know the government is monitoring who I am calling or
who is calling me, they may be less inclined to seek that advice. The NSA
program, then, limits a lawyer's ability to help those in
need."
The national ACLU, which filed a legal challenge in January
to the NSA's warrantless wiretapping, also is of counsel in today's
lawsuit.
"Our corporate and political leaders should talk
straight with the American people about these secret demands for customer phone
records," said ACLU Executive Director Anthony D. Romero. "Whether the
government is monitoring or intercepting the domestic and international calls of
millions of Americans without warrants goes to the heart of our system of checks
and balances."
Chicago attorneys William Hooks of the Hooks Law Offices and Marc Beem and
Zachary Freeman of the law firm Miller, Shakman & Beem, are assisting the
ACLU of Illinois in the case.
A copy of today's complaint
is available at:
www.aclu-il.org/news/archives/terkelvatt.pdfBackground
on the national ACLU's challenge to warrantless NSA wiretapping is online at:
www.aclu.org/nsaspying
