The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) is suing the federal government for violating parts of the Freedom of Information Act, by ignoring its request for documents on its surveillance program.
The Associated Press reported the civil rights group is suing the government for not releasing documents on its spying of American citizens.
Under the Freedom of Information Act, people can request information on documents that are not private, by filling out forms, and the government has to give it to them. Well, the group has requested information since May and has been ignored.
The ACLU said their request was ignored by the National Security Agency (NSA), the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), the Department of Defense (DOD), the Department of Justice (DOJ), and the Department of State.
ACLU wants the court to force the government to hand over the information they have requested. The group also wants to know how the spying is being done and what rights American citizens, who are being spied on, have to protect themselves. The Washington Times reported the suit was filed in Manhattan.
The lawsuit was filed by the group and the Media Freedom and Information Access Clinic at Yale Law School after it was revealed that surveillance overseas was also being done on Americans without any form of boundaries.
ACLU staff attorney Alex Abdo stated that this can lead to problems, “We now know too well that unchecked surveillance authority can lead to dangerous overreach.”
The civil rights group has sued the government before for its NSA surveillance program, earlier this year. Reuters reported the ACLU questioned whether the program was unconstitutional or not.
While the issue of whether the program was unconstitutional or not caused different opinions. A U.S. District Judge, Judge Williams Pauley, ruled the program constitutional, according to Reuters.