The National Security Agency's domestic spying program faces its first legal challenge in a case that could decide if the White House is allowed to order eavesdropping without a court order.
Oral arguments are set for Monday at U.S. District Court in Detroit at which the American Civil Liberties Union will ask Judge Anna Diggs Taylor to declare the spying unconstitutional and order it halted.
The case goes to the heart of the larger national debate about whether President Bush has assumed too much power in his declared war on terrorism.
Bush said he authorized NSA intercepts soon after the September 11 attacks, allowing the NSA to monitor the international phone calls and e-mails of U.S. citizens without first obtaining warrants if in pursuit of al Qaeda suspects.
The ACLU sued the NSA on behalf of scholars, journalists and attorneys, claiming that warrantless wiretaps violate the U.S. Constitution and the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978, or FISA.
"The NSA has the capability of eavesdropping on anyone, anywhere, anytime," said James Bamford, an NSA expert and author who is supporting the ACLU suit.
Justice Department lawyers have asked the judge to dismiss the suit because it would reveal state secrets.
Regardless of how the judge rules on state secrets, the government lawyers say Congress granted Bush surveillance privileges by authorizing the use of force against al Qaeda following the September 11 attacks, and that he has the inherent right to order the wiretaps under presidential war powers.
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