Bush is being sued

I’ve been waiting for this. I’ve blogged at length about the US Government’s illegal wiretapping agenda. If you missed it, go to my Bush, The Magician post. And now the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) has filed a lawsuit against the National Security Agency on behalf of AT&T customers. AT&T’s domestic communications networks were used to illegally snoop on American citizens. Five plaintiffs are suing the pants off Bush, Cheney, David Addington (Cheney’s Chief of Staff), Alberto Gonzales (former Attorney General and White House Counsel) – as individuals complicit in the wiretapping fiasco. This is really going to test the legality of the FISA Act and hold Bush and his cronies accountable.

Jewel v NSA is the name of the lawsuit and it aims to challenge the illegal and unconstitutional dragnet of surveillance the NSA has been undertaking in concert with telecom companies like AT&T. The legal intent is to have the FISA Act declared unconstitutional and award damages to the five plaintiffs. And here’s the really good bit: they are seeking damages from the US Government AND the individual officials responsible for creating the surveillance programme (ah, that would be you Bush and your cronies).

The legal claims being raised in the lawsuit are:

• Violation of the Fourth Amendment to the Constitution
• Violation of the First Amendment to the Constitution
• Unlawful electronic surveillance or disclosure or use of information obtained by electronic surveillance in violation of 50 U.S.C. §1809.
• Unlawful interception, use or disclosure of Class communications in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 2511
• Unlawful solicitation and obtained disclosure of the contents of communications in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 2702(a)(1) or (a)(2)
• Unlawful solicitation and obtained disclosure of non-content records or other information in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 2702(a)(3)
• Violation of the Administrative Procedures Act
• Violation of the constitutional principle of separation of powers

I’m pleased to see violation of the separation of powers – I’ve ranted about this before. Of course, Congress granted immunity to the telecommunications companies but not the Government itself so the EFF has found a way to challenge the NSA domestic spying programme. Go here to read more about the lawsuit.