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Advocacy Blog
Monday, August 13, 2007
Lawyers Faces Extraordinary Measures in Al-Haramain Case
Jon B. Eisenberg who is suing the government on behalf of the charity Al-Haramain Islamic Foundation, had to write an appellate brief in a government office supervised by a Justice Department security officer. The charity Al-Haramain says they were illegally wiretapped by the National Security Agency (N.S.A). Al-Haramain and two of its lawyers were mistakenly given proof that their international communications were the subject of N.S.A. eavesdropping in the spring of 2004, and that document is the center of an appeal that will be heard on Wednesday by a panel of three federal judges. How the court deals with the document, which the government quickly recovered leaving the lawyers with a "mental copy," may have great ramifications on future rulings on the legality of the wiretapping program. A New York TimesSelect ($$) article, "A Case So Shielded One Side Is in the Dark," describes the high level of security that Eisenberg and others have experienced.
''We were not allowed to keep a copy of what we wrote,'' Mr. Eisenberg continued. ''Our drafts were retained by the security officer for shredding. We were allowed to print out five copies of the final document: one for each judge, one for the government attorneys, and one to be retained'' in a Justice Department safe. ''Not even the judges' staff attorneys will be permitted to see the document.''
So, it's like this,'' he said in the e-mail message. ''Yesterday, under the auspices and control of my litigation adversaries, at their offices and on their computer, I wrote a brief, of which I was not allowed to keep a copy, responding to arguments which I was not permitted to see, which will be met by a reply which I will not be permitted to see.
Read the USA Today coverage which states; "The charity's lawyer scoffs at the often surreal lengths the government has taken to keep the Document under wraps."
Posted by Amanda Adams
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