NACDL

The revelation that President George W. Bush authorized an extensive program of warrantless wiretapping of suspected al-Queda operatives in the United States after the 9/11 attack puts American criminal defense lawyers on the front line in challenging one of the most arrogant abuses of presidential power in our history. A good starting point if you have a client who may have been subjected to such wiretaps is to do precisely what the lawyers representing Robert Plamondon did in United States v. U. S. District Court, 407 U.S. 302 (1972): file a motion to compel the government to disclose electronic surveillance information, and conduct a hearing to determine whether any such information tainted the evidence upon which the charges are based. If the government refuses to make such disclosure, the case should be dismissed. If surveillance is disclosed which was conducted without a warrant, as in United States v. U. S. District Court, you should get the same result that Robert Plamondon got