The Daily Background

According to the Newsday (although it appears to be an Associated Press story), the New York Times (who originally broke the unconstitutional NSA domestic spying story) has sued the Department of Defense (parent agency of NSA), to either comply with its December FOIA (Freedom of Information Act) request, or provide a legal reason of why they cannot do so. The article:

The New York Times sued the Department of Defense on Monday, saying the government has refused to turn over records related to its domestic warrantless surveillance program.

In a lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Manhattan, the Times asked the court to order the government to comply with a Freedom of Information Act request requiring it to release documents or provide a lawful reason why it cannot.

Usually, when lawsuits are filed because a government agency isn’t responding to FOIA requests (such by with the ACLU, in connection with Pentagon torture docs, etc), the body requesting the FOIA release will wait several months to file a lawsuit. In this case, NYT has waited a bit more than two. It sounds as though they’re either fishing for something specific, or they’re just reall eager to crack this story open wider. Either way, I wish them luck in court.

Hat tip TalkLeft liberal law blog.

Filed under: NSA Wiretaps, Z-TDB Blog