I haven't seen this posted anywhere else.
Judge: Feds illegally wiretapped Islamic charity
By PAUL ELIAS
Associated Press Writer The Sacramento Bee
SAN FRANCISCO -- A federal judge ruled Wednesday that government investigators illegally wiretapped the phone conversations of an Islamic charity and two American lawyers without a search warrant.
U.S. District Court Judge Vaughn Walker said the plaintiffs have provided enough evidence to show "they were subjected to warrantless electronic surveillance."
At issue was a 2006 lawsuit challenging the Bush administration's so-called Terrorist Surveillance Program. The lawsuit was filed by the Ashland, Ore. branch of the Saudi-based Al-Haramain Islamic Foundation and two American lawyers Wendell Belew and Asim Ghafoor.
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Holder said Judge Walker was given a classified description of why the case must be dismissed so the court can "conduct its own independent assessment of our claim."
The attorney general has said the judge would decide whether the administration had made a valid claim and "we will respect the outcome of that process."
That is a departure from the Bush administration, which resisted providing specifics to judges handling such cases about what the national security concerns were.
Read the whole thing: http://www.sacbee.com/...