Court urged to end Bush spy program

http://www.macon.com/mld/macon/news/nation/14060301.htm

Court urged to end Bush spy program


DETROIT - A civil rights group urged a federal court Thursday to immediately stop the Bush administration's domestic surveillance program.

In filings in the U.S. District Court in Detroit, the American Civil Liberties Union said that eavesdropping on Americans by the National Security Agency is blatantly unconstitutional and thus should be halted.

The group had filed a lawsuit in January against the National Security Agency after the New York Times reported that the federal agency had eavesdropped on the e-mails and phone calls of Americans without court approval. Under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, the government is normally required to obtain approval from a secret court before spying on Americans.

"The president does not have a blank check that allows him to ignore basic constitutional rights of Americans,'' Kary Moss, head of the Michigan branch of the ACLU, said Thursday in a news release.