Patriot Act Suppresses News Of Challenge to Patriot Act
By Dan Eggen
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, April 29, 2004; Page A17
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."
A Justice Department spokesman declined to comment on the case.
The ACLU alleges that a section of the act is
unconstitutional because it allows the FBI to request financial records
and other documents from businesses without a warrant or judicial
approval. The group also says such requests, known as "national
security letters," are being used much more broadly than they were
before the Patriot Act.
The bureau has issued scores of the letters since late
2001 that require businesses to turn over electronic records about
finances, telephone calls, e-mail and other personal information,
according to previously released documents. The letters, a type of
administrative subpoena, may be issued independently by FBI field
offices and are not subject to judicial review unless a case comes to
court.
The ACLU's complaint focuses on the use of national
security letters to obtain information held by "electronic
communication service providers." The group says the letters could
force Internet providers to turn over names, screen names, e-mail
addresses and other customer information without proper notice to the
people involved.
The lawsuit names as defendants Attorney General John D.
Ashcroft, FBI Director Robert S. Mueller III and FBI Senior Counsel
Marion E. "Spike" Bowman. A second plaintiff has joined the ACLU in
filing the lawsuit, but that plaintiff's identity has been redacted
from the public copy of the complaint.
© 2004 The Washington Post Company
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