Judge Seeks Wiretapping Documents

Subject: Judge Seeks Wiretapping Documents Mon Nov 03, 2008 2:20 am

WASHINGTON (AP) — A judge has ordered the Justice Department to produce White House memorandums that provide the legal basis for the Bush administration’s post-Sept. 11 warrantless wiretapping program.

The judge, Henry H. Kennedy Jr. of Federal District Court in Washington, signed the order Friday. It requires the department to produce the memorandums by the White House legal counsel’s office by Nov. 17. He said he would review the memorandums to determine whether any information could be released publicly without violating attorney-client privilege.

The order came in response to lawsuits by civil liberties groups in 2005 after news reports disclosed the wiretapping.

The department had argued that the memorandums were protected attorney-client communications.

But Judge Kennedy said that argument was “too vague.”

A spokesman for the Justice Department, Dean Boyd, said Saturday the department was reviewing the opinion and would “respond appropriately in court.”

Shortly after the Sept. 11 attacks, President Bush authorized the National Security Agency to spy on calls between people in the United States and terrorism suspects abroad without obtaining court warrants.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/02/washington/02warrant.html?partner=rssnyt&emc=rss

Judge Seeks Wiretapping Documents

Judge Seeks Wiretapping Documents

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