A Democratic senator is pushing the Justice Department’s to release a George W. Bush-era legal opinion on privacy and surveillance.
“I believe that this opinion is inconsistent with the public’s understanding of the law, and should be withdrawn,” Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., wrote on Thursday to Attorney General Loretta Lynch.
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The decision, issued by the department’s Office of Legal Counsel, was signed in 2003 by Deputy Assistant Attorney General John Yoo, who wrote reams of controversial decisions expanding federal authority in the early days of the war on terrorism.
Critics believe that it pertains to the government’s surveillance of telecommunication subscribers. The American Civil Liberties Union tried to obtain the decision through a Freedom of Information Act request last year, but that request was turned down. The ACLU subsequently filed a lawsuit seeking to overturn the rejection. That suit has yet to reach a conclusion.
Wyden, an attorney who serves on the Senate Intelligence Committee and who is likely familiar with all of the classified law’s subtleties, seems to believe Americans have a right to know more about it than they do.
Writing with regard to “commercial service agreements” that the ruling references, Wyden closed by saying that the public should be able to decide whether it wants to be part of such agreements.
“I also believe that this opinion should be declassified and released to the public, so that anyone who is a party to one of these agreements can consider whether their agreement should be revised or modified,” Wyden said.
Reports over the last three years have suggested that the federal government is collecting Internet data through a variety of means. The collection of metadata, which includes everything except the contents of communications, is a well-known practice. The collection of more private data is generally believed to require a warrant.
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If the ruling is related to telecom companies, its application may have shifted since 2003 in light of changing legal norms. Most notably, the Federal Communications Commission reclassified Internet service providers as telecom companies last year.
