A federal appeals court ruled that a judge was too deferential to the U.S. government’s national security claims when he scaled back a lawsuit charging the FBI with conducting illegal and unconstitutional surveillance at mosques
A federal appeals court has ruled that a judge was too deferential to the U.S. government’s national security claims when he dramatically scaled back a lawsuit charging the FBI with conducting illegal and unconstitutional surveillance at southern California mosques.from a 9th Circuit Court of Appeals panel is a blow to the government’s use of the so-called state secrets privilege to combat lawsuits alleging illegal electronic snooping.
The long-running legal case involves the FBI’s use of a paid informant to infiltrate California mosques in the middle of the last decade. FBI agents and the informer, Craig Monteilh, had a falling out. He later filed a lawsuit and also publicly alleged that he’d been instructed to carry out an intrusive, broad-scale undercover operation that included dating Muslim women and planting recording devices in mosque facilities.
Santa Ana, Calif.-based U.S. District Court Judge Cormac Carney threw out most of the case in 2012, agreeing with government lawyers that allowing the litigation on issues like religious discrimination to proceed would risk exposing sensitive details about why the FBI started what it maintains was an anti-terrorism investigation.
"We conclude that some of the claims dismissed on state secrets grounds should not have been dismissed outright," Berzon wrote.for increased surveillance of mosques and Muslim communities in an effort to root out terrorism.
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