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ACLU sues for records about government's use of unconstitutional spying powers
The American Civil Liberties Union and the New York Civil Liberties Union sued the government today for the release of documents about the implementation of the FISA Amendments Act of 2008 (FAA), an unconstitutional spying law that gives the executive branch virtually unchecked power to collect Americans' international e-mails and telephone calls in dragnet fashion, without a warrant and without suspicion of wrongdoing.
"Despite being in operation for nearly two years, the American public is largely in the dark about how the controversial FISA Amendments Act has been implemented in practice," said Melissa Goodman, staff attorney with the ACLU National Security Project. "The public has a right to know how the government is using, and possibly abusing, an intrusive surveillance power that implicates the privacy and speech rights of all U.S. citizens and residents."