[NYTr] Fed Appeals Court deals blow to anti-wiretapping case

[All the News That Doesn't Fit]

AP - Nov 16, 2007
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/D/DOMESTIC_EAVESDROPPING?SITE=AZPHG&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT

Court deals blow to [ANTI-] wiretapping case

By PAUL ELIAS
Associated Press Writer

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) -- A federal appeals court dealt a near-fatal blow
Friday to an Islamic charity's lawsuit alleging it was illegally
wiretapped by federal investigators, saying that a key piece of
evidence the charity planned to use is a protected state secret.

The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled unanimously that a top
secret call log accidentally turned over to the now-defunct U.S. arm of
the Al-Haramain Islamic Foundation's lawyers by the U.S. Treasury
Department can't be used as evidence.

Al-Haramain, which was labeled by the U.S. government as a terrorist
organization, alleged it had been illegally wiretapped by the Bush
administration without a warrant. But without the document, the court
said, the foundation has little proof it was wiretapped.

The charity's lawyers voluntarily turned over the document to FBI
agents after it was given to them. But a lower court ruled that the
lawyers couldn't use the actual document to support their lawsuit but
could use their memories of its contents to go forward.

The appeals court said that ruling was "a commendable effort to thread
the needle," but still ran counter to the state secrets law, which
precludes the disclosure of sensitive information in court that could
jeopardize national security.

"Such an approach countenances a back door around the privilege and
would eviscerate the state secret itself," Judge M. Margaret McKeown
wrote for the unanimous three-judge panel.

© 2007 The Associated Press.