Judge Rules Against NSA Surveillance During Appeal (Margaret Cronin Fisk)

By Margaret Cronin Fisk

Sept. 28 (Bloomberg) -- A U.S. judge rejected a Bush administration request to continue its terrorist surveillance while it appeals her earlier decision that the program is unlawful, while giving the government a week to seek relief from a higher court.

  U.S. District Judge Anna Diggs Taylor in Detroit ruled Aug. 17 that the surveillance, ordered by President George W. Bush after the Sept. 11 attacks, violated the Constitution and federal law. Today the judge rejected the government's bid to put her ruling on hold during its appeal.

  Taylor said that to prevent possible harm to the public she wouldn't order the surveillance stopped immediately. Instead, she gave the government a week to ask a federal appeals court to allow the surveillance to continue. An immediate stop to the program would harm U.S. security, a government lawyer argued.

  ``The terrorism surveillance program was authorized to close a gap in intelligence,'' Justice Department attorney Anthony J. Coppolino told the judge. ``A chilling effect on a small number of communicators speaking with al-Qaeda or suspected al-Qaeda does not outweigh the harm'' to the public if the program stops, he said.

In ruling against the government, Taylor said she saw ``no likelihood of the government prevailing on the merits on appeal.'' The program was challenged by the American Civil Liberties Union and advocacy groups.

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