Andrew Zajac
The Justice Department filed notice yesterday that it will appeal last month’s ruling that portions of the USA Patriot Act pertaining to surveillance of U.S. citizens are unconstitutional.
The ruling came in a suit by Brandon Mayfield, the Portland, Oregon attorney wrongly linked to the March 2004 Madrid train bombing after the FBI misidentified a fingerprint in the investigation.
Mayfield’s home was searched and bugged before the FBI realized they were after the wrong man.
Mayfield received an apology and $2 million to settle his suit against the government but he retained his right to sue to challenge the Patriot Act on the grounds that aspects of it violated his civil rights.
On Sept. 16, a federal judge in Portland ruled that using the Patriot Act to gather evidence to build a criminal case against Mayfield instead of merely to gather intelligence violates the 4th Amendment prohibition against unreasonable searches.
Tuesday’s filing Download file
gives notice only and doesn’t offer any indication of how the government will attack District Judge Anne Aiken’s ruling.