Supreme Court throws out suit against illegal wiretapping

On Feb. 19, the Supreme Court declined without comment to hear the American Civil Liberties Union's challenge of the Bush administration's domestic spying program. The civil liberties group also asked the nation's highest court to make clear that Bush does not have the power under the US Constitution to engage in intelligence surveillance within the United States that Congress has expressly prohibited. "The president is bound by the laws that Congress enacts. He may disagree with those laws, but he may not disobey them," Jameel Jaffer, director of the ACLU's National Security Project, said in the appeal. "We're disappointed," said Jaffer. "Allowing the executive branch to police itself" is at odds with the Constitution's system of checks and balances. Bush authorized the program to monitor international phone calls and emails of US citizens without first obtaining a court warrant. The program's disclosure in December 2005 caused a political uproar among Democrats, some Republicans and civil liberties activists. The ACLU brought suit on behalf of journalists, lawyers and others in charging that the administration's warrantless wiretapping that began after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks was unconstitutional. But the US Court of Appeals for the 6th Circuit said that because none of those in the suit could prove they had been monitored, they had no standing to bring the suit. The Bush administration wants to make permanent the Protect America Act, which expanded the powers of the government to monitor without warrants, international phone calls and emails. The high court's new action means that the president will be able to disregard whatever legislative eavesdropping restrictions Congress adopts as there will be no meaningful judicial review, the ACLU attorneys said. The journalists, scholars, attorneys and national advocacy groups that filed the lawsuit said the illegal surveillance had disrupted their ability to communicate with sources and clients.