Constitution Project Welcomes Federal Court Ruling That Surveillance Program Violated Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act
4/1/2010
Ruling in Al-Haramain v. Obama Reaffirms Rejection of State Secrets Claim
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT: Matthew Allee, (202) 580-6922 or mallee@constitutionproject.org
WASHINGTON – Yesterday afternoon, Judge Vaughn Walker of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California ruled in Al-Haramain Islamic Foundation v. Obama that the plaintiffs had been subject to illegal electronic surveillance in violation of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA). The opinion grants the plaintiffs’ motion for summary judgment and sets forth, in detail, the lengthy and complicated litigation history of this case.
In the course of this new ruling, Judge Walker reaffirmed his earlier holding that FISA displaces the state secrets privilege in cases within the scope of FISA’s provisions. The court based the March 31st ruling, however, entirely on non-classified evidence. Judge Walker found that the plaintiffs had provided sufficient uncontested evidence demonstrating they had been subjected to wiretapping without a warrant under the so-called “Terrorist Surveillance Program” or TSP.
“The Constitution Project welcomes Judge Walker’s decision, which forcefully recognizes both that the executive branch cannot be permitted to use the state secrets privilege to shield unlawful conduct, and that the NSA’s former warrantless wiretapping program is illegal,” said Sharon Bradford Franklin, Constitution Project Senior Counsel. “We are also pleased that the executive branch’s efforts to avoid independent judicial review in this case were unsuccessful. Judge Walker’s thorough opinion should put to rest the notion that the executive branch can hide behind claims of state secrets to evade its obligations to follow the law.”
Judge Walker’s opinion noted that an amicus brief filed by the Constitution Project, together with the Center for National Security Studies, in ACLU v. NSA in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit, was submitted in support of the plaintiffs’ summary judgment motion in Al Haramain. In it, the Project and CNSS argued that the NSA wiretapping program violated FISA, and that the Constitution did not authorize the president to ignore the requirements of FISA. To view the brief, go to:
The Constitution Project’s Liberty and Security Committee, in a statement titled Reforming the State Secrets Privilege, has called for independent judicial assessment of state secrets privilege claims. The Committee has also condemned the NSA warrantless wiretapping program as a violation of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) in its Statement on the National Security Agency’s Domestic Surveillance Program.
To view Reforming the State Secrets Privilege, go to:
To view the Statement on the National Security Agency’s Domestic Surveillance Program, go to:
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