Eavesdropping can continue pending appeal: court

The U.S. government can continue to eavesdrop on Americans’ overseas phone calls and e-mails until its appeal of a judge’s ruling outlawing the surveillance is decided, the U.S. Court of Appeals ruled on Wednesday.

The Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals granted the government’s request for a stay of U.S. District Judge Anna Diggs Taylor’s ruling that would have halted at once the warrantless surveillance, which the government says it needs to ferret out terrorists.

“This program is both critical to preventing terrorist attacks and fully consistent with law. We are pleased to see that it will be allowed to continue while the Court of Appeals examines the trial court’s decision, with which we strongly disagree,” White House spokeswoman Dana Perino said.

In a three-paragraph ruling, the court said Diggs’ ruling outlawing the program would be stayed based on factors including the chances of the government winning on appeal and the public interest.

The ACLU filed the suit in March on behalf of scholars, attorneys and journalists who regularly communicate with people in the Middle East.

“A stay in this type of case is not uncommon. We’re focused on the appeal of the case itself,” said Paul Silva of the American Civil Liberties Union.

The expedited appeal calls for the government to submit its arguments to the appeals court by October 13, with a response due a month later, and a ruling likely before the end of the year, Silva said.

The losing side is almost certain to appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court, which is likely to take up the case.

CIVIL RIGHTS QUESTION

In August, Judge Taylor ruled that the National Security Agency’s 5-year-old surveillance program, implemented as part of the government’s war on terrorism, violates the civil rights of Americans because the government does not have to present justification for its monitoring in court and obtain a warrant.

Last week Taylor gave the government a week before it would have to shut down the program. Wednesday’s ruling by the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals granted the lengthier stay.

The Bush administration has insisted its “Terrorist Surveillance Program” was necessary to protect the public, while civil rights activists and some lawmakers — including some Republicans — said President George W. Bush had overstepped his powers by authorizing the wiretaps without warrants.

In requesting the stay, the government had argued: “Because we cannot control how or when the enemy will seek to communicate or strike, even a temporary interruption could result in grave harm to the American public.”

Bush authorized the NSA surveillance program after the September 11 attacks on the United States, although the public only learned of its existence last year.

The program allows the government to eavesdrop on the international phone calls and e-mails of U.S. citizens without obtaining a warrant, if those wiretaps are made to track suspected terrorist operatives.

Some in Congress proposed legalizing the program by revising the 1978 law governing domestic intelligence activities, but legislation failed to materialize. The law established a special court to consider, in secret, warrants for wiretaps, but the court was bypassed by the NSA program.

Reuters