The American Civil Liberties Union and the Center for Constitutional Rights each filed separate lawsuits seeking to end the Bush administration's policy of domestic spying on Americans without search warrants on the grounds that the program was unconstitutional. The ACLU filed papers in a U.S. District Court in Detroit while the Center for Constitutional Rights filed in New York.
The New York suit named President Bush, the head of the National Security Agency, and the heads of the other major security agencies as defendants. The group is seeking an injunction from the court to end all domestic spying conducted without a proper search warrant.
The Detroit lawsuit has the Council on American-Islamic Relations and Greenpeace named as plaintiffs. The Bush administration has used the domestic spying program to monitor Greenpeace according to some reports.
Papers filed indicate that the plaintiffs have a 'well-founded belief' that their communications are being monitored and intercepted by the government.
The papers read in part, 'By seriously compromising the free speech and privacy rights of the plaintiffs and others, the program violates the First and Fourth Amendments of the United States Constitution.'
President Bush continues to insist the program is legal and necessary for national security. He claims that Congress authorized the program in a vaguely worded bill passed shortly after the September 11 attacks. The lawsuits are designed to put Mr. Bush's claims to the test.
