A charity’s lawsuit contesting the Bush administration’s use of wiretapping has been reinstated by a federal judge last week. The judge ruled that the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) does have precedence over the state secrets privilege and said the Al-Haramain Islamic Foundation’s lawsuit can proceed.
The lawsuit accuses the government of listening in to telephone calls in early 2004 between a charity officer living in Saudi Arabia and two of his Washington lawyers.
The lawsuit had been rejected in July after the court ordered transcripts mistakenly sent to the defense lawyers returned to the government. The transcripts contained congressional testimony of high ranking government officials discussing the surveillance program. The government claimed the transcripts were to remain proprietary due to national security concerns.
U.S. District Judge Vaughn Walker last week said, “There is enough primary evidence showing the charity might have been the target of government-tapped telephone calls that were done without court approval under the administration’s so-called Terrorist Surveillance Program.”
The now defunct charity had been based in Ashland, Oregon and is currently listed as a terrorist organization by the U.S. government.
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