Scoops!! Are We Safe and Free Yet?

All in all, not a bad week for civil liberties:

On Wednesday, Jameel Jaffer of the ACLU's National Security Project argued in the 2nd Circuit for upholding a decision striking down the Patriot Act's National Security Letter (NSL) provision in Doe v. Mukasey. Our client, John Doe, runs an Internet Service Provider and has been gagged by the NSL he received from speaking about his case. It was an active and engaged panel — Judges Calabresi, Newman, and Sotomayor. They had allocated 15 minutes for each side, but in the end they kept the lawyers up there for almost two hours (!)— an almost unheard of stretch in the 2nd Circuit. Our fingers are crossed that the panel will agree with the district court ruling that the gag order violates the First Amendment and the principle of separation of powers.

At the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISC) yesterday, the news was less cheery: They issued an opinion denying our motion for leave to participate in proceedings relating to the meaning, scope, or constitutionality of the FISA Amendments Act. This ruling indicates that the FISC will decide legal issues that affect all Americans' privacy rights in compete secrecy. The FISA Amendments Act allows the President virtually unfettered access to the international phone calls and emails of anyone on U.S. soil. As Jameel says in a statement: "The intelligence court should not be deciding important constitutional issues in secret judicial opinions issued after secret hearings at which only the government is permitted to appear.”

An excellent development in our Torture FOIA lawsuit: the judge issued an order yesterday requiring the government to get on with processing the three 2005 memos relating to waterboarding and other "enhanced interrogation methods," authored by Steven Bradbury, of the Justice Department's Office of Legal Counsel (OLC). That's right, the same OLC from whence John Yoo came.

One last note: The government filed its brief in the Mohammed v. Jeppesen case. (Our suit against the Boeing subsidiary for accommodating and servicing the CIA's extraordinary rendition program. It's now before the 9th circuit.) Our reply is due in three weeks. Check back for developments...