[JURIST] The US Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit <http://www.ca6.uscourts.gov/internet/index.htm> [official website] ruled <http://www.ca6.uscourts.gov/internet/documents/Order062095_000.pdf> [text, PDF] Wednesday that the US government can continue to operate its domestic surveillance program <http://jurist.law.pitt.edu/currentawareness/surveillance.php> [JURIST news archive; US DOJ fact sheet <http://www.usdoj.gov/opa/documents/nsa_myth_v_reality.pdf#search=%22terrorism%20surveillance%20program%22>, PDF] pending appeal of US District Judge Anna Diggs Taylor's August 17 ruling <http://jurist.law.pitt.edu/pdf/aclunsa.pdf> [PDF text; JURIST report <http://jurist.law.pitt.edu/paperchase/2006/08/breaking-news-federal-judge-rules.php>] that the government's program is unconstitutional.
Taylor originally ordered the shutdown of the surveillance program, but held last Thursday that the government could continue domestic surveillance for one more week <http://jurist.law.pitt.edu/paperchase/2006/09/federal-judge-gives-domestic-spying.php> [JURIST report] while the issue was appealed to the Sixth Circuit. AP has more <http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/domestic_spying;_ylt=Av4PhQ4vgcrsYS7HUjnpvFCs0NUE;_ylu=X3oDMTA3OTB1amhuBHNlYwNtdHM->. The ACLU filed the lawsuit <http://www.aclu.org/safefree/nsaspying/23491lgl20060117.html> [complaint, PDF; ACLU materials <http://www.aclu.org/safefree/nsaspying/index.html>] on behalf of journalists, scholars, attorneys and national nonprofit organizations having "a well-founded belief that their communications are being intercepted by the NSA" in order to challenge the use of warrantless wiretaps by the National Security Agency <http://www.nsa.gov/> [official website] to intercept communications of suspected terrorists.
