Wiretap programme judged 'unconstitutional'
US President George Bush has been the main advocate of his administration's wiretapping programme
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Thursday, 17, Aug 2006 06:58
A US federal judge has ruled that the controversial surveillance system championed by US president George Bush is unconstitutional.
Judge Anna Diggs Taylor of Detroit had been adjudicating in a case brought by the American Civil Liberties Union.
They had argued that the national security agency's (NSA) policy of listening in on private calls made in the US and other countries contravened basic human rights laid out in the country's constitution.
The ruling will be seen as a blow to the president, who had argued that the wiretap policy was necessary in order to help fight the war on terror.
Arguments that the administration needed to maintain the secrecy of the operation and so required the case to be thrown out of court were rejected by the judge.
She said that sufficient information about the programme had already been voluntarily made public, rendering the state secret argument redundant.
"Plaintiffs have prevailed, and the public interest is clear in this matter. It is the upholding of our constitution," she said in her ruling.
The White House has said it will appeal the decision.