San Francisco – Lawyers for Guantanamo Bay detainees asked a federal judge Thursday to invalidate a days-old law that lets government agents eavesdrop on suspected terrorists without first getting court-approved warrants.
They said the measure signed into law Sunday by President Bush is illegal because it gives the national intelligence director and the U.S. attorney general too much power to intercept communications of suspected terrorists overseas – even when they are talking to someone in the United States.
The New York-based Center for Constitutional Rights’ lawsuit, along with about 50 others, are being considered by U.S. District Judge Vaughn Walker in San Francisco.
Center attorney Michael Avery said that what is called the Protect America Act “redefined the term of electronic surveillance and gives the government new powers, extraordinary powers, unprecedented powers.”
In court documents filed Wednesday, government lawyers argued that the law’s passage is enough legal grounds for a judge to toss out the Guantanamo detainees’ lawsuit.
