Amnesty v. Clapper - Challenge to FISA Amendments Act
What's at Stake
The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA), enacted by Congress after the abuses of the 1960s and 70s, regulates the government’s conduct of intelligence surveillance inside the United States. It generally requires the government to seek warrants before monitoring Americans’ communications. In 2001, however, President Bush authorized the National Security Agency to launch a warrantless wiretapping program, and in 2008 Congress ratified and expanded that program, giving the NSA almost unchecked power to monitor Americans’ international phone calls and emails. In February 2013, the Supreme Court dismissed the ACLU's lawsuit challenging the law.
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Summary
Less than an hour after President Bush signed the 2008 amendments, the ACLU filed its lawsuit challenging the law’s constitutionality. The case, Amnesty v. Clapper, was filed on behalf of a broad coalition of attorneys and human rights, labor, legal and media organizations whose work requires them to engage in sensitive and sometimes privileged telephone and e-mail communications with individuals located outside the United States.
In 2009, a judge in New York dismissed the suit on the grounds that the ACLU’s clients couldn’t prove that their communications would be monitored under the new law. A federal appeals court reversed that ruling in 2011 and the Obama administration appealed the issue to the Supreme Court, which heard oral argument in October 2012. In a 5-4 ruling handed down on February 26, 2013, the Supreme Court held that the ACLU plaintiffs don't have standing to challenge the constitutionality of the warrantless wiretapping program.
You can view the court filings here.
ACLU attorney Jameel Jaffer, Human Rights Watch General Counsel Dinah PoKempner, and journalist Chris Hedges talk about the ACLU's lawsuit against the FISA Amendments Act.
ACLU Sues Over Unconstitutional Wiretapping Law
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Legal Documents
- 03/26/2013
Amnesty et al. v. Clapper - Reply Brief for the Petitioners
Date Filed: 03/26/2013
Download Document- 02/26/2013
Amnesty v. Clapper – Supreme Court – Opinion
- 05/22/2012
Amnesty et al. v. Clapper - Legal Documents
- 03/21/2011
Amnesty et al. v. Clapper - Decision
- 10/01/2009
Amnesty, et al. v. Blair - Notice of Appeal
- 08/20/2009
Amnesty, et al. v. Blair - Opinion and Order
- 07/10/2008
Amnesty et al v McConnell - Complaint
Press Releases
Dismissal Of ACLU Challenge To Unconstitutional Spying Law Jeopardizes Americans' Privacy
ACLU Asks Court To Strike Down Unconstitutional Spying Law
ACLU Response to President Bush’s Request for Telecom Amnesty, Civil Liberties Group Lauds House Committee Vote to Reject Telecom Immunity
The ACLU Urges Congress to Be Skeptical of Administration Claims on FISA
ACLU Urges House Panel to Get Answers From Spy Chief, Says FISA Legislation Needs to Be Fixed, Not Misrepresented
