International   

Wiretapping law upheld

CINCINNATI: A divided appeals court rejected a lawsuit challenging President George W. Bush’s domestic spying programme without ruling on the issue of whether warrantless wiretapping is legal. In a 2-1 decision with Republican-appointed judges in the majority, a three-judge panel of the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said on Friday the plaintiffs had no standing to sue because they could not prove their communications had been monitored by the Government. The decision underscored the difficulty of challenging the anti-terrorism programme in court because its secret nature prevents plaintiffs from obtaining surveillance information. The National Security Agency had refused to turn over information about the warrantless wiretapping that would have bolstered the court case. “This is a Catch-22,” said Steven R. Shapiro, legal director of the American Civil Liberties Union, which filed the lawsuit. “I think what in effect they’re saying is that we can’t tell you whether you have been wiretapped because that’s a secret. And unless you know you’ve been wiretapped, you can’t challenge that.” — AP

Printer friendly page  
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Stories in this Section

Truck bomb kills 100 in Iraq market
Surrender or face death, says Musharraf
Security forces ready to storm mosque
18 Tigers killed in battle, says army
Clash over Nepal King’s birthday fete
Japan wants to hide wartime orders
Rockers out to save the world
U.S. woman convicted of murder-for-hire
Wiretapping law upheld
35 die in NATO raid in eastern Afghanistan
Latin Mass curbs lifted
The quest for weird forms
The blood and the gore
Kafeel had links with major Al-Qaeda figure

Copyright © 2007, The Hindu. Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of The Hindu