ACLU Asks Appeals Court To Affirm Decision Striking Down Patriot Act's "National Security Letter" Provision

"The FBI shouldn't have the unreviewable power to impose gag orders on the recipients of national security letters," said Jameel Jaffer, Director of the ACLU National Security Project who argued today in court. "As the district court ruled, the FBI's power to silence the recipients of these letters has to be subject to judicial oversight. Without that check, the FBI can use its power to hide abuses and silence its critics – and that's exactly what it's been doing."

The ACLU and New York Civil Liberties Union filed a lawsuit in April 2004 on behalf of an Internet Service Provider (ISP) that received an NSL. Because the FBI imposed a gag order on the ISP, the lawsuit was filed under seal, and even today the ACLU is prohibited from disclosing its client's identity. The FBI continues to maintain the gag order even though the underlying investigation is more than four years old (and may well have ended), and even though the FBI abandoned its demand for records from the ISP over a year ago.