$node.absurl

$node.contribution("Title")

$node.absurl

Posted September 3, 2004.

Secret-Court Rules Are Apparent Catch-22, Critics Say

While the U.S. Department of Justice has argued that anyone targeted under the USA Patriot Act’s controversial Section 215 could challenge such an order before a secret court, recently released documents reveal that the court only allows government attorneys and agents inside.

The procedural rules of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISC)—which oversees FBI surveillance in foreign intelligence and terrorism investigations—“do not seem to contemplate the possibility that anyone other than a government attorney may appear before the court,” American Civil Liberties Union staff attorney Jameel Jaffer said in the August 30 Washington Post. The ACLU obtained the five-page document as part of the final settlement of a lawsuit filed in 2002 seeking details about how the government is using expanded surveillance powers granted by the Patriot Act.

“As it has in so many other instances around the Patriot Act, the Justice Department has been disingenuous about librarians’ ability to appeal or challenge FISC court orders,” American Library Association Washington Office Executive Director Emily Sheketoff told American Libraries.

“They keep saying you can challenge it, but they have never indicated how anyone could actually do so,” Patrice McDermott, deputy director of ALA’s Office of Government Relations, told the Post.

Posted September 3, 2004.