Judge scolds U.S. Justice Department over warrantless wiretapping records

[sabra]

Source: AP

WASHINGTON: A U.S. judge scolded the Bush administration Wednesday for responding with sometimes blanket secrecy to a request for documents on its warrantless wiretapping program.

Privacy groups and civil rights organizations sued the Justice Department last year, demanding it release documents under the Freedom of Information Act. The government refused to release most of the records, arguing that such a move could jeopardize national security and undermine terrorism investigations.

But U.S. District Judge Henry H. Kennedy Jr. said Wednesday that reasoning is not good enough.

"While the court is certainly sensitive to the government's need to protect classified information and its deliberative processes, essentially declaring 'because we say so' is an inadequate" defense, Kennedy wrote.

Read more: http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2007/09/05/america/NA-GEN-US-Domestic-Spying-Records.php