Resource: ACLU v. DOJ - Lawsuit to Enforce NSA Warrantless Surveillance FOIA Request

Following news reports in December 2005 that President Bush had authorized the National Security Agency (NSA) to conduct warrantless surveillance of Americans, the ACLU filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request for documents pertaining to this illegal spying program. Among the documents requested were Office of Legal Counsel (OLC) memos that supplied the legal justification for the President's decision to authorize warrantless wiretapping in blatant violation of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA), a federal statute that prohibited warrantless wiretapping. In February 2006, when the government failed to release the requested documents, the ACLU filed a lawsuit to enforce its rights under FOIA. The lawsuit was consolidated with a similar lawsuit filed by the National Security Archive and the Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC).