At 10:30 a.m. today, PT, in a federal courtroomin San Francisco, Judge Vaughn Walker will hear oral arguments in the government’s motion to dismiss Jewel v. NSA, a case involving the warrantless surveillance of millions of Americans. Kevin Bankston of the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) will be representing the plaintiffs.
As it has done in similar cases, the Department of Justice has argued that the court must dismiss the case because defending it would require the government to discuss “state secrets.” There has been no difference in strategy since the Obama administration took over from the Bush administration.
According to an EFF press release:
EFF will argue that the lawsuit cannot be dismissed based on the government’s blanket secrecy assertion, as made clear in previous court decisions concerning NSA spying and the CIA’s special rendition program, and that the government is not immune against suit for violating federal wiretapping statutes.