FISA Court Rules Wiretapping Program Legal

[David Farber <dave () farber net>]

Begin forwarded message:

From: Richard Forno <rforno () infowarrior org>
Date: January 15, 2009 8:46:34 AM EST
To: Undisclosed-recipients: <>;
Cc: Dave Farber <dave () farber net>
Subject: FISA Court Rules Wiretapping Program Legal

January 16, 2009
Intelligence Court Rules Wiretapping Program Legal
By ERIC LICHTBLAU
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/16/washington/16fisa.html?_r=1&hp=&pagewanted=print

WASHINGTON — A federal intelligence court, in a rare public opinion,  
is expected to issue a major ruling validating the power of the  
president and Congress to wiretap international phone calls and  
intercept e-mail messages without a court order, even when Americans’  
private communications may be involved.

The court decision is expected to be disclosed as early as Thursday in  
an unclassified, redacted form. It was made in December by the Foreign  
Intelligence Surveillance Court of Review, which has issued only two  
prior rulings in its 30-year history.

The decision marks the first time since the disclosure of the National  
Security Agency’s warrantless eavesdropping program three years ago  
that an appellate court has addressed the constitutionality of the  
federal government’s wiretapping powers. In validating the  
government’s wide authority to collect foreign intelligence, it may  
offer legal credence to the Bush administration’s repeated assertions  
that the president has constitutional authority to act without  
specific court approval in ordering national security eavesdropping.

The appeals court is expected to uphold a secret ruling issued last  
year by the intelligence court that it oversees, known as the Foreign  
Intelligence Surveillance, or FISA, court. In that initial opinion,  
the secret court found that Congress had acted within its authority in  
August of 2007 when it passed a hotly debated law known as the Protect  
America Act, which gave the executive branch broad power to eavesdrop  
on international communications, according to someone familiar with  
the ruling.

snip

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