Librarians Ungagged

Copied from the ACLU Newsletter today - I can hardly wait to hear what the librarians have to say.

Government Flip-Flop: Patriot Gag on Connecticut Librarians Lifted

In a stunning reversal of its claim that national security was at risk, the government has given up its legal battle over a gag order on Connecticut librarians affected by the controversial National Security Letter (NSL) provision of the law. The decision to abandon their opposition to the ACLU's challenge came after Congress voted to reauthorize the Patriot Act.

The reauthorization still allows the FBI to gag NSL recipients and forces courts to rubberstamp FBI decisions. The ACLU fought many of the more extreme measures of the Patriot Act during the course of the reauthorization debate. In a notable victory, the Act no longer denies NSL recipients the right to challenge the law.

Once the necessary court procedures are complete, which may take several weeks, the librarians will be introduced to the public and will be able talk openly for the first time about their objections to secret FBI demands for patrons' library and e-mail records.

"The government's claim that gagging librarians was necessary to protect national security has evaporated now that the political battle is over," said ACLU Executive Director Anthony D. Romero. "The American public should keep this in mind the next time a government official invokes national security in defense of secrecy."

The case was one of two challenges brought by the ACLU in New York and Connecticut to a surveillance power that was dramatically expanded by the Patriot Act. The Patriot Act power permits the FBI to demand, without court approval, records of people who are not suspected of any wrongdoing. Anyone who receives such a demand -- known as a National Security Letter (NSL) is gagged from disclosing that the FBI demanded records.

The government has given up on the specific gag in the Connecticut case, but is pursuing its appeal of the New York decision, which struck down the entire National Security Letter provision as unconstitutional. It argues that the recent changes made by the Reauthorization Act cured any constitutional defects in the law.

In fact, the amended NSL provision still allows the FBI to gag NSL recipients and forces courts to rubberstamp FBI decisions, said the ACLU, which asked the Second Circuit to affirm the decision striking down the law.

More information about the ACLU's challenges to National Security Letters is online at www.aclu.org/nsl.