Judge: Spy case hearings will go on

Federal jurist in Detroit stands firm despite claim national security at risk.

Gregg Krupa / The Detroit News

DETROIT -- A federal judge in Detroit said she will proceed with hearings in a suit that challenges a domestic spying program run by the National Security Agency, despite assertions from the Bush administration that doing so would reveal "state secrets" that affect national security.

U.S. District Judge Anna Diggs Taylor also chided the NSA and lawyers for the Department of Justice for failing to respond to the court challenge, brought Jan. 18 by a local resident, Nizah Hassan, the American Civil Liberties Union and the Council on American Islamic Relations. Despite having twice extended time for the government, Diggs Taylor said it has failed to respond.

The plaintiffs also filed a motion March 9 asking Diggs Taylor to summarily declare the NSA's program illegal. They assert the NSA must go to a secret court provided by the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act for approval of spying in the United States.

The government eventually filed a motion saying that, by law, no court can consider the issues because of a privilege against revealing state secrets, if doing so diminishes national security.