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• Friday, May 22, 2009 02:31 PM

  Al-Haramain update

  Judge threatens sanctions over gov't wiretapping

  SAN FRANCISCO—A federal judge on Friday threatened to severely sanction the Obama Administration for withholding a top secret document he ordered given to lawyers suing the government over its warrantless wiretapping program.

  U.S. District Judge Vaughn Walker in San Francisco ordered Justice Department lawyers to court on June 3 to tell him why he shouldn't award unspecified damages to the now-defunct Oregon arm of the Al-Haramain Islamic Foundation. The group alleges that government officials eavesdropped on their telephone calls without court authorization.

  The National Security Agency has also refused the judge's previous orders to provide security clearances to two of the charity's lawyers so they can view the top secret document.

  The judge had issued a written order on Jan. 5 and then reinforced it during a hearing later that month. He also barred the prosecutors from appealing the order, but they asked the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to step in anyway. The appeals court refused to hear the case.

  On May 15, government lawyers told Walker they would refuse to comply with his order.

  http://www.mercurynews.com/news/ci_12430040?nclick_check=1

  Judge Walker's order to show cause: http://www.eff.org/files/filenode/att/630OrderinAlHaramain.pdf

  More from EFF: http://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2009/05/judge-takes-governme

  —EJ Read EJ's other letters
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