A FEDERAL judge in Michigan last night ordered an immediate halt to the Bush Administration’s controversial domestic eavesdropping programme.
Judge Anna Diggs Taylor in Detroit ruled the programme to be an abuse of presidential power and a violation of constitutional rights to free speech and privacy. The ruling, the first against the Terrorist Surveillance Programme, was a blow for the Administration, which had argued that it was an essential tool in its war on terrorism.
The White House was outraged by the ruling. The programme was “firmly grounded in law and regularly reviewed to make sure steps are taken to protect civil liberties,” Tony Snow, the White House spokesman, said. “We couldn’t disagree more with this ruling, and the Justice Department will seek an immediate stay of the opinion and appeal,” he added.
The case will be referred to the district court, and could go all the way to the US Supreme Court. In a terror-related case in June, the Supreme Court struck down the military commissions system established by President Bush to try detainees held at Guantanamo Bay.
The Terrorist Surveillance Programme, authorised by Mr Bush in the wake of the attacks of September 11, 2001, allows the Government to eavesdrop on the international phone calls and e-mails of American citizens without obtaining a warrant.
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Under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act 1978, government agencies require individual warrants to eavesdrop on suspects inside the United States.
Mr Bush’s new programme, however, dispensed with warrants if the surveillance were carried out with the purpose of hunting terrorists.
The programme has been widely criticised by civil rights activists and raised concern among lawmakers from the Republican and Democrat parties alike, who argued that Mr Bush had overstepped his powers by authorising it.
The wiretapping suit was filed in Michigan by the American Civil Liberties Union on behalf of a number of journalists, lawyers, scholars and human rights workers who believed that their communications had been monitored. They argued that the programme prevented them from doing their work because people were afraid to speak to them on the telephone or send e-mails that could be monitored.
Judge Taylor ruled that the programme violated free speech, privacy, protection against unreasonable searches and the constitutional check on the power of the presidency. “There are no hereditary kings in America and no powers not created by the Constitution,” she wrote in a 48-page ruling. “So all ‘inherent powers’ must derive from that Constitution.”
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She said that the groups behind the complaint had demonstrated that they were prevented from conducting their work.