Michael Garcia reports:
A federal judge denied a motion Monday to dismiss the FBI from a lawsuit filed by two Berkeley community organizations whose computers and storage devices were seized in an August 2008 raid.
U.S. District Judge Jeffrey White ruled that plaintiffs Long Haul Inc. and East Bay Prisoner Support can sue the investigative bureau for its role in the raid, which was conducted by the bureau’s Joint Terrorism Task Force in coordination with UCPD and the Alameda County Sheriff’s Office.
[…]
On Aug. 27, 2008, officers raided the Long Haul Infoshop, located at 3124 Shattuck Ave., as part of an investigation into a series of threatening e-mails that were allegedly sent to nine UC Berkeley faculty members from the shop…… During the raid, officers removed all computers from the building, including those located in the locked Slingshot and East Bay Prison Support offices, according to the documents.
In a complaint filed on Jan. 14, the plaintiffs alleged that the FBI and two agents working for the bureau violated the groups’ First Amendment U.S. Constitutional rights of freedom of speech and Fourth Amendment rights protecting unreasonable search and seizure.
Read more in The Daily Californian.