Provision of Patriot Act Is Ruled Unconstitutional

The 120-page ruling, by U.S. District Judge Victor Marrero in New York, came in a lawsuit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union on behalf of an Internet service provider that had received a form of administrative subpoena known as a national security letter. The FBI has issued hundreds of these letters since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

The letters have drawn fire because they are issued without any court oversight or finding of probable cause and prohibit the recipients of the letters from ever disclosing that they have been received. Authorized by law since the mid-1980s, the letters have become more widely used since the Patriot Act gave the government greater discretion in issuing them in terrorism investigations.

The Patriot Act permits widespread access to electronic communications such as basic subscriber information and call records from phone companies and e-mail and other Web-related information from Internet service providers.

It does not, however, allow the government access to the actual contents of the communications.

"Today's decision is a stunning victory against the John Ashcroft Justice Department in striking down one of the major surveillance portions of the USA Patriot Act," said Anthony D. Romero, executive director of the ACLU.

The decision marks an unusual defeat for the department and other proponents of the Patriot Act, the terrorism-fighting law enacted within weeks of the 2001 hijackings and attacks that killed almost 3,000 people.

The law has been criticized as compromising civil liberties and spawned considerable litigation. Until Wednesday's decision, though, only one constitutional challenge had been successful: In January, a federal judge in Los Angeles, citing the free speech provision of the 1st Amendment, ruled against the part of the act making it illegal to "give expert advice or assistance" to foreign terrorist organizations.

In a report issued in July, the Justice Department contended that the act had been effective in saving lives. It noted that some provisions were instrumental in the disruption of alleged terrorist cells in upstate New York and Oregon.