Al Qaeda's useful idiots at ACLU want secret records

Washington Post:

A secret U.S. intelligence court has ordered the Bush administration to register its views about a records request by the American Civil Liberties Union, which wants the court to release a series of pivotal orders issued earlier this year about the National Security Agency's wiretapping program.

The move is highly unusual, because the court -- which approves warrants for electronic surveillance within the United States by intelligence and counterterrorism agencies -- operates in almost total secrecy and has made only one ruling public in its 29-year history.

In a scheduling order issued Thursday and released yesterday by the ACLU, the chief judge of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court instructed the government to respond to the ACLU's request by Aug. 31. The civil liberties group has until Sept. 14 to file its own response.

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David B. Rivkin Jr., a partner at Baker Hostetler and a Justice Department official in the Reagan administration, said he is skeptical that the ACLU can pry loose the orders. Rivkin also argued that it is unclear whether the secret court, which meets inside the Justice Department building, has the authority to release such documents over objections from the executive branch.

"The order is unusual, and the request is also unusual," Rivkin said. "But I would be amazed if that request were granted in the end."

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This is just more evidence that FISA should be repealed or declared unconstitutional. I am sure al Qaeda would love to know more about how we intercept their communications and the ACLU are just the guys to find out for them. The ACLU's argument is based on the false premise that our enemies in a time of war have a privacy right under the constitution.