SAN FRANCISCO, Nov. 16 (UPI) -- A federal panel in San Francisco Friday ruled a lawsuit challenging warrantless wiretapping could not proceed because of the state secrets privilege.
In a 3-0 decision, the three-judge panel of 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals agreed with the government's argument that allowing an Islamic charity's claims it was illegally spied on to proceed posed a threat to national security, the Los Angeles Times reported.
Judge M. Margaret McKeown, while rejecting government's argument that the litigation subject matter was a state secret, wrote for the panel, "We acknowledge the need to defer to the executive on matters of foreign and national security and surely cannot legitimately find ourselves second-guessing the executive in this arena."
The court returned the case to a lower court to consider whether the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, requiring the government to seek warrants for anti-terrorist wiretaps from a special court, pre-empts the state secrets privilege.
