Court dismisses lawsuit on spying program

By Andrea Hopkins

CINCINNATI (Reuters) - A U.S. appeals court ruled on Friday a lawsuit challenging the domestic spying program created by President George W. Bush after the September 11 attacks must be dismissed, in a decision based on narrow technical grounds.

The appeals court panel ruled by a 2-1 vote that the groups and individuals who brought the lawsuit, led by the American Civil Liberties Union, did not have the legal right to bring the challenge in the first place.

The surveillance program was authorized by Bush to monitor the international phone calls and e-mails of U.S. citizens, without first obtaining a court warrant. A lower court had ruled in August 2006 that the program was unconstitutional.

The Bush administration appealed, and the appeals court in Cincinnati set aside the decision.

The appeals court did not decide the merits of the lawsuit challenging the program as illegal and unconstitutional. It just held that the plaintiffs did not have standing or the legal right to sue.

The ACLU plaintiffs included lawyers who said they could not defend clients accused of terrorism because the government, under the wiretapping program, could listen into attorney-client conversations.

But the two judges in the majority opinion said the plaintiffs had failed to prove they were under surveillance.

"The plaintiffs allege that they have a 'well founded belief' that their overseas contacts are likely targets of the (National Security Agency) and that their conversations are being intercepted. The plaintiffs have no evidence, however, that the NSA has actually intercepted (or will actually intercept) any of their conversations," Judge Alice Batchelder said in the ruling.