The moral of this story is never give up. The ACLU of MAINE, ACLU and civil liberties groups across the country have been trying to stop the National Security Agency (NSA) warrantless surveillance program since it was first revealed in December of 2005 that the Bush Administration had been secretly spying on the telephone and Internet communications of potentially millions of Americans.
Here in Maine, Doug Cowie and 21 other fearless volunteers brought a complaint against Verizon for its complicity in the program to the Maine Public Utilities Commission. That complaint became the model for ACLU complaints all across the country and the basis for a federal lawsuit. But Maine's complaint and dozens of lawsuits including ACLU v. NSA were dismissed on technicalities. One other federal judge found the program to be unconstitutional but was overturned on appeal. Congress criticized the program and then legalized it with the FISA Amendments Act of 2008.
In short, the fight against warrantless surveillance has been filled with frustration and thwarted at every turn until this week.
The Obama Administration tried to use the Bush Administration's theory of "state secrets" saying court review of the issue would harm national security, but Federal District Judge Vaughn Walker saw through the rhetoric and ruled that wiretapping the telephone conversations of the now-defunct Al-Haramain Islamic Foundation without a court order was illegal.
Glenn Greenwald has a thorough analysis of the decision here. The New York Times assesses the implications for the Obama Administration, which has defended the Bush-era actions using Bush Administration arguments here. You can read our jubilant press release here.