Good on them.
American Civil Liberties Union, "ACLU Sues Over Unconstitutional Dragnet Wiretapping Law":
The American Civil Liberties Union filed a landmark lawsuit today to stop the government from conducting surveillance under a new wiretapping law that gives the Bush administration virtually unchecked power to intercept Americans' international e-mails and telephone calls. The case was filed on behalf of a broad coalition of attorneys and human rights, labor, legal and media organizations whose ability to perform their work - which relies on confidential communications - will be greatly compromised by the new law.
The FISA Amendments Act of 2008, passed by Congress on Wednesday and signed by President Bush today, not only legalizes the secret warrantless surveillance program the president approved in late 2001, it gives the government new spying powers, including the power to conduct dragnet surveillance of Americans' international communications.
The ACLU had their suit all drawn up and ready to file the moment Bush signed the bill into law. While the issue of immunity (I'd call it amnesty, but more about that in a bit) for telecommunications companies who committed felonies has grabbed the attention of many, it's larger problem is that it's a near-elimination of any oversight to the National Security Agency's wiretapping program.
Glenn Greenwald cites Georgetown Law Professor Marty Lederman, who managed to sum it all up in one paragraph:
The new statute permits the NSA to intercept phone calls and e-mails between the U.S. and a foreign location, without making any showing to a court and without judicial oversight, whether or not the communication has anything to do with al Qaeda -- indeed, even if there is no evidence that the communication has anything to do with terrorism, or any threat to national security.
I'd add that since the NSA doesn't have to prove a damned thing before they start a wiretap, even that tiny restriction about the "foreign location" is entirely theoretical. Bush and Congress have put what is essentially a police agency on the honor system. If they break the law, no one will ever know...
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