Judge orders Justice to produce wiretap memos

WASHINGTON — A judge has ordered the Justice Department to produce White House memos that provide the legal basis for the Bush administration's post-Sept. 11 warrantless wiretapping program.

U.S. District Judge Henry Kennedy Jr. signed an order Friday requiring the department to produce the memos by the White House legal counsel's office by Nov. 17. He said he will review the memos in private to determine if any information can be released publicly without violating attorney-client privilege or jeopardizing national security.

Kennedy issued his order in response to lawsuits by civil liberties groups in 2005 after news reports disclosed the wiretapping.

The department had argued that the memos were protected attorney-client communications and contain classified information.

But Kennedy said that the attorney-client argument was "too vague" and that he would have to look at the documents himself to determine if that argument is valid and also to see if there is information that can be released without endangering national security.

Justice Department spokesman Dean Boyd said Saturday the department is reviewing the opinion and will "respond appropriately in court."

Shortly after the Sept. 11 attacks, Bush authorized the National Security Agency to spy on calls between people in the U.S. and suspected terrorists abroad without obtaining court warrants. The administration said it needed to act more quickly than the court could and that the president had inherent authority under the Constitution to order warrantless domestic spying.

After the program was challenged in court, Bush last year put it under the supervision of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, established in 1978 after the domestic spying scandals of the 1970s.

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"We think just as a common sense matter the legal theories for the president's wiretap programs cannot be classified and should be available to the public," said Marc Rotenberg, president of the Electronic Privacy Information Center, one of the groups seeking the memos.

"It's an important decision because up to this point the judge has relied on the government's assertion that it has done everything properly under the law and that it has disclosed everything it needs to disclose," Rotenberg said Saturday.

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On the Net:

Court ruling: http://tinyurl.com/5c5g4j

Electronic Privacy Information Center: http://epic.org/

The National Security Archive: http://www.gwu.edu/(tilde)nsarchiv/

American Civil Liberties Union: http://www.aclu.com/

Justice Department: http://www.usdoj.gov/

Comments

[reggieb]

jail time

[somsoc]

What makes anyone think the El Presedente' Bush will comply with some pion court order?

[kalamatiaNO]

Bush has already started setting himself up to leave the country. He bought land in South America, anticipating being brought up on war crimes by the international community.

The Bush legacy will begin to be revealed in earnest beginning next year and I think this country will be amazed at just how many illegal and reprehensible acts he committed during his eight years in the presidency.

[Tom Payned]

warrants? We don't need no stinkin' warrents.

What? We need a legal basis to violate the constitution and bill of rights?

Memos, we got memos, we don't need no stinkin' warrants.

Memos, you want to see the stinkin' memos?

Protected, Attorney client privilege.

What, you dare question us? Ha.

Court orders? We don't have to follow no stinkin' court orders.

We'll just keep judge shopping til the clock runs out. Than pardon are lawyers.

[Badfickle]

How long will the list of pardons be come January 19th or so?

[Earl]

Of Biblical proportions.

[somsoc]

Bush will pardon everyone in sight to include Cheney then resign and Cheney will pardon Bush, wanna bet?

[blueboomerintx]

Nice gesture.
But all traces of the paper trail, the email trail, and the computers and typewriters on which they were generated are LONG gone....
And W will pardon himself, Cheney, Rummy and all the rest on his way out the door.

If anyone really thinks we'll ever know the depth and breadth of the abuses perpetrated in the past 8 years, I have some swamp land in....................Arizona (!) to sell you (cell phone reception there is GREAT, though, b/c of CM's new towers!).

Seriously, I hope our nation hasn't been so badly damaged that we cannot recover.

2 more days!

Go Obama/Biden!

[jotunloki]

W can pardon everyone EXCEPT himself. It's not legal for someone to pardon oneself.

[wndrwrthg]

That was the fear of the repubs when they were impeaching clinton. They even went as far as to have him promise not to do so.

[Sherzie]

Bush will spend his last 100 days shredding documents.

[Kassandra]

We can only hope that's all he does.

I just don't get why this story isn't more prominent: " Bush launches last-minute deregulation push" http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/27466701/ Everybody's asking "Where's Bush?" Well here he is doing this to us and the a**h*le press can;t even report on it.

He is going to cause headaches(literally) for US for years with this. then, there are all the military pokes he's giving the Mideast and the arms he's selling to anyone who wants them.

Even if the hate mongers don't riot in streets after Obama is elected, there is so much damage Bush will/can do before the swearing in.
That's why I think we should start the criminal inquiries asap, maybe we can undo some of what he has done without years of forensic legal searches.

It might also start to prove to his converts that he/his people is/are baaaaad men and has truly harmed America.

[blueboomerintx]

Yup, he's holed up somewhere concocting and signing a bunch of "midnight regulations" (or, in his case, DEregulations...)

Nice way to bypass the democratic process to advance your agenda, leave booby-traps for the next President, and $&r#w the country.

[cactusgal]

If they're wire-tapping my phone here in Arizona, all they've been listening to lately are desperate robocalls from McCain, begging for my vote.

[sueno]

Bravo! justice at last-

[JohnnyKay]

If we are a Nation built upon laws, then let the scaffolding that's supported the Bush administration's disregard for that basis, fall. Fall loudly and clearly. Disintegrate, to permit Justice to regain its footing in the American way of Life that demands accountability from the high and mighty to the lowest among us.

Though the high and mighty are those lowest among us for a short time.

[Defarge]

Ya know all those bullies we had in school when we were kids? They all grew up to become Republicans . . .

[PeaceOnEarth62]

I'm starting to realize that.

They are also the ones that have the Jesus fish on their cars and cut you off in traffic. So much for "brotherly love".

Vote for change. Obama/Biden

[mgloraine]

We also need to see all documents pertaining to warrantless wiretapping which took place BEFORE 9/11. Cheney and Bush were busily spying on Americans and eagerly violating their Constitutional rights well before their windfall disaster. If al Qaeda had not supplied BushCo with a convenient justification for abolishing the rule of constitutional law and imposition of a dictatorship, then they would have engineered an incident of their own. The Cheney-Bush Gang was absolutely overjoyed when they saw the WTC crashing to the ground, because they knew they would have an excuse for creating the fascist police state of their wildest fantasies.

The reason for Bush's minions to withold the documents is clear: it would reveal the fact that illegal spying was already underway before 9/11 supposedly made it necessary.

[Kassandra]

And THAT'S surely been well hidden....

[ThermoChemist]

2/01 - The NSA asks Qwest to reveal information about its customers and their phone calls. Qwest"s CEO refuses saying the program is ILLEGAL without court orders. [Like you mentioned...Months BEFORE Bush's excuse of 9/11!]

3/04 - AG Comey refused to sign an authorization for the NSA program because it "did NOT COMPLY with the LAW".

12/05 - The NYT shows Bush SECRETLY authorized the NSA to eavesdrop on Americans and others INSIDE the US to search for evidence of terrorist activity WITHOUT court-approved warrants. The Bush wiretaps VIOLATED US law because he was REQUIRED TO GET APPROVAL from FISA. Wiretaps can be started at any time but you MUST then SEEK APPROVAL to continue, within 72 hours.

HJR114 only grants use of the "Armed Forces"; NOT explicitly suspend the Constitution. It requires that the President submit a report to Congress EVERY 60 days about relevant matters and actions taken. Congress was NOT NOTIFIED!

2/08 - Protect America Act set TO EXPIRE. Harry Reid pushed for a 1 month extension
of the existing law to work out a compromise over RETROACTIVE IMMUNITY for telecoms.

Bush BALKED at Reid"s approach, stoking FEARS of a terrorist attack if he does not get EVERYTHING he WANTS on a PERMANENT basis. Bush says "Give us exactly what we want, NOW!". He uses the "Fear card" again (and over exaggeration?). He wants NO OVERSIGHT!

http://www.cooperativeresearch.org/timeline.jsp?timeline=civilliberties&civilliberties_surveillance=civilliberties_nsa_wiretapping

[sparkey]

Those memos will never see the light of day. National security will be cited as the reason. Case closed. The judge will then be nominated for the supreme court, just because he's a good judge, not because he did as he was told.

[amaycatbaker]

Or executive privilege?

[1differentdrummer]

The Bush position? You have no inalienable rights. The constitution is just a piece of paper. That is the way it is in many parts of the USA. Look at the vote suppression effort by the Secretary of State in Colorado, how is that different in philosophy? I'm thankful that not all conservatives are that way.

[BillMelater]

Why is it always Republicans that want to spy on its citizens and monitor their phone conversations?

That says alot about them.

[JohnnyKay]

Look at their hanflers: the Jesuits at Georgetown (and Rome) and Skull and Bones; the upper echelons devoted to war, profiteering from wars, and destabilizing government after government for the ultimate prize: an illegitimite 'crowning' in Jerusalem with the right blood, but the wrong intent.

From Black Pope to current pope, the last 500 years has been an excercise in destruction, and we've all played along.

The final card has been dealt in this last administration that has yet to fully play out.

It's Death........ unless and until we choose to take back our country and return to compassionate living based upon the truth.