ACLU Files Lawsuit Challenging FISA

Wired's Threat Level blog reports that the American Civil Liberties Union has filed a lawsuit contesting the constitutionality of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. Recently passed by both the House and Senate, FISA was signed into law on Thursday by President Bush. The ACLU has fought aspects of FISA in the past. The new complaint (PDF) alleges the following: "The law challenged here supplies none of the safeguards that the Constitution demands. It permits the government to monitor the communications of U.S. Citizens and residents without identifying the people to be surveilled; without specifying the facilities, places, premises, or property to be monitored; without observing meaningful limitations on the retention, analysis, and dissemination of acquired information; without obtaining individualized warrants based on criminal or foreign intelligence probable cause; and, indeed, without even making prior administrative determinations that the targets of surveillance are foreign agents or connected in any way, however tenuously, to terrorism."

Re:hooray sortof

[pxlmusic]

you're right, i should have started saving my lobbyist bribe money at a much earlier age.

Re:Hey Obama!

[linzeal]

Why can't we elect any of the members of the supreme court? At least give us one seat.

Re:In time of war

[ColdWetDog]

The last i heard we are officially at war

Aside from the "war de jour" (drugs, pollution, obesity, cancer, termites) what precisely are you talking about?

Re:hooray sortof

[Copid]

Bullshit, the ACLU doesn't love the constitution, they love their specific pet bits of it...

I share your contempt for ACLU pet projects like the First and Fourth Amendments.