Environmental advocacy group Chesapeake Climate Action Network revealed it was among the targets of state police spying, bringing into question the actual scope of the surveillance that was justified as a public safety measure.

“Clearly, the state police’s surveillance went well beyond infiltrating the meetings and communications of anti-death penalty activists ahead of an upcoming execution, as has been cited by [Maryland State Police] as the impetus for their surveillance,” said David Rocah, lawyer for the American Civil Liberties Union.