MCLU Urges Congress to Hold White House in Contempt,
Force Compliance on NSA Subpoenas

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
August 21, 2007       

Portland – The Maine Civil Liberties Union today urged Congress to hold the White House in contempt for having disregarded the second deadline for compliance with Senate Judiciary Committee subpoenas.  The original subpoenas were issued June 27 and sought materials related to the National Security Agency’s warrantless wiretapping program.  The White House received an extension in July and the second deadline for compliance was Monday at 2:30 p.m. 

 “The administration’s ongoing refusal to comply with the subpoenas is a slap in the face to all who care about protecting the privacy of innocent Americans,” said Shenna Bellows, Executive Director of the MCLU.  “Mainers deserve answers about this unconstitutional program and Congress should demand that we get them.”

Maine led the way in the push to hold the government accountable for its illegal surveillance activities.  In May of last year, Doug Cowie and 21 other Mainers filed a customer complaint urging the Maine Public Utilities Commission to investigate whether Verizon allowed the NSA access to the phone records of its customers without their knowledge or legal consent.  That complaint set in motion a nationwide effort to uncover phone company privacy violations and potential data mining. In July, the U.S. District Court in California denied the United States’ request to enjoin the Maine PUC from investigating privacy violations by Maine phone companies. 

“For nearly a year and a half our questions about government spying have gone unanswered,” said Bellows.  “The president and this administration are not only neglecting their job to uphold the Constitution; it appears they are trampling all over our most basic rights.”

In the first effort of its kind, the ACLU filed a request on August 8 with the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISC) requesting that it disclose recent legal opinions discussing the scope of the government's authority to engage in secret wiretapping of Americans.  In their aggressive push to justify passing this ill-advised legislation, the administration and members of Congress made repeated and veiled references to orders issued by the FISC earlier this year.  On August 17th, the court said the request was "unprecedented" and required the government to respond to the ACLU's request by August 31.

More information on the ACLU’s concerns with the NSA spying is online at: www.aclu.org/nsaspying

###