If you're a member of the ACLU, this is old news to you, since you probably receive those periodic updates in your email.

For everyone else, here's the scoop: the ACLU is leading the charge in a lawsuit against the National Security Agency (NSA) over the NSA's warrantless wiretaps. Read more about the ACLU's lawsuit. Read the legal complaint, American Civil Liberties Union v. National Security Agency [PDF]. The case was filed in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan, Southern Division. The ACLU is asking for relief in the form of (1) a statement that the NSA's spying program is unlawful, and (2) a permanent injunction enjoining the NSA from conducting its warrantless electronic surveillance activities.

FISA allows the president, through the Attorney General, to conduct electronic foreign intelligence surveillance without a court order in the following three instances:

1. to conduct surveillance in an "emergency situation" provided the FISA court is given a retroactive application to conduct such surveillance within 72 hours of the beginning of the surveillance;
2. to conduct surveillance for up to one year if the Attorney General certifies, in writing and under oath, that the surveillance is directly solely at foreign powers and that "there is no substantial likelihood that the surveillance will acquire the contents of any communication to which a United States person is a party"; and,
3. to conduct surveillance for fifteen days of a formal declaration of war by Congress

ACLU alleges that the NSA's surveillance activities are not covered by any of the above three situations. The FISA court received no applications, ever; the attorney general never certified anything; and there was never a formal declaration of war by Congress.

Also, an interesting point brought up today on The Ed Schultz Show: if the president is content to engage in surveillance without the appropriate court orders, then why is he pushing for renewal of the USA PATRIOT Act?