Feingold issues statement on Bush-era wiretapping

On Wednesday, a federal judge ruled the National Security Agency’s program of surveillance without warrants was illegal, and in doing so the judge rejected efforts by the Obama administration to keep the program, which was implemented during the administration of George W. Bush, cloaked in secrecy. In a 45 page opinion, Judge Vaughn Walker, Chief Judge of the United States District Court for the Northern District of California, ruled the government had violated the FISA statutes enacted in 1978 which require court approval for domestic surveillance when it intercepted phone calls in 2004 of Al Haramain, a now-defunct Islamic charity, as well as the phone calls of two lawyers representing the organization. In his decision, Judge Walker, who was appointed to the bench by President George H. W. Bush, noted the plaintiffs had been “subjected to unlawful surveillance.”

Shortly after Judge Walker’s decision was announced, Sen. Russ Feingold, long an opponent of the warrantless wiretapping program, issued a statement:

“From the day that I learned about the warrantless wiretapping program in 2005, I have been convinced that it was illegal. Now, despite the government trying to throw up every procedural roadblock imaginable in this case, the judge has ruled that the Bush Administration broke the law. This decision is a positive step toward finally achieving some accountability for the illegal program that President Bush authorized for more than five years. We can and must fight terrorism aggressively without breaking the law.”