ACLU v. Ashcroft

[REDACTED], ACLU v. Ashcroft is an ongoing court case in which an unknown online service provider and the ACLU are challenging a provision of the USA PATRIOT Act that allows the FBI to seize Internet records without any oversight.

History

The ACLU filed a lawsuit on behalf of some unknown party on April 9, 2004. Because of the secrecy rules involved, the government would not let them disclose they had filed a case for nearly a month, after which they were permitted to release a heavily redacted version of the complaint. However, they still cannot disclose what Internet service provider was served with the request to produce documents, and opted to challenge the law.

Argument

Internet access [REDACTED] business [REDACTED] (TLA: AOL? MCI? IBM?) argues section 2709 is unconstitutional because of [REDACTED]. Section 2709 lets the FBI request subscriber information from an ISP without judicial oversight or notice. Worse, the ISP is then prohibited from saying, even to their lawyers, that they've given records to the FBI forever. The PATRIOT Act modified this law so they can use it against anyone, even people with no connection to terrorists.

The law violates the First Amendment because it categorically prevents people from speaking about the records taken. It violates the First Amendment because it allows the government to order the disclosure of constitutionally protected information (like who an anonymous speaker is) without any oversight. It violates the First and Fourth Amendments because it provides no method to challenge the request. It violates the First, Fourth, and Fifth Amendments because it requires no prior notice of waiver of such notice.

The Court is asked to declare the law unconstitutional and enjoin the government from using it again.