NOTE: Entries on these pages contain excerpts from the news stories or external pages to which the entry is linked.

All Bases Covered

    

The American Civil Liberties Union disclosed yesterday that it filed a lawsuit three weeks ago challenging the FBI's methods of obtaining many business records, but the group was barred from revealing even the existence of the case until now.

The lawsuit was filed April 6 in U.S. District Court in Manhattan, but the case was kept under seal to avoid violating secrecy rules contained in the USA Patriot Act, the ACLU said. The group was allowed to release a redacted version of the lawsuit after weeks of negotiations with the government.

"It is remarkable that a gag provision in the Patriot Act kept the public in the dark about the mere fact that a constitutional challenge had been filed in court," Ann Beeson, the ACLU's associate legal director, said in a statement. "President Bush can talk about extending the life of the Patriot Act, but the ACLU is still gagged from discussing details of our challenge to it."

» Patriot Act Suppresses News Of Challenge to Patriot Act (washingtonpost.com)

Excerpt made on Thursday April 29, 2004 at 12:58 AM



This discussion has been closed. No more comments may be added.

« « BACK TO MAIN  |  Entry Index