Obama lawyer says no position on Bush-era wiretaps

By Christine Kearney

NEW YORK (Reuters) - A lawyer for the Obama administration said on Friday it had no position on the legality of the former Bush administration's program to intercept Americans' e-mails and phone calls without a warrant.

The lawyer spoke at a 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals hearing on a lawsuit in which 16 lawyers representing Guantanamo Bay detainees demanded the government release records of electronic surveillance they believe was conducted without a warrant concerning their clients' cases.

The suit, filed in 2007 by the Center for Constitutional Rights against the Bush administration Justice Department and the National Security Agency, said both agencies refused to release the records first requested by the rights group in January 2006.

Justice Department lawyer Thomas Bondy told the appeals court it should uphold a lower court's decision that ruled in favor of the government's position that it did not need to confirm or deny the existence of any records.

Under questioning, Bondy added the Obama administration took "no position on the merits" of the "terrorist surveillance program" under President George W. Bush that ignited controversy for allowing U.S. intelligence to spy on Americans' communications without a warrant in pursuit of terrorism suspects.

The warrantless eavesdropping program ended three years ago.

Bondy said he could not answer a judge's question if a similar surveillance program was being considered by the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court.

Center for Constitutional Rights lawyer Kathryn Sabbath told the court that if the government could not reveal whether it had the records, it should be made to explain why, perhaps in papers a judge could read under seal.

The Obama administration has backed Bush administration arguments in several similar lawsuits filed by rights groups, including invoking state secrets and national security in suits challenging other examples of warrantless wiretapping and detention and interrogation policies.

President Barack Obama has said he wants to move forward from the Bush administration. He has promised to close the Guantanamo detention camp in Cuba for foreign terrorism suspects by January, a deadline that is looking increasingly difficult to meet.

(Editing by Ellen Wulfhorst and Peter Cooney)