Senate Committee to Vote to Issue Subpoenas for Information Regarding Warrant-less Wiretapping Program

The Senate Judiciary Committee scheduled a vote Thursday to decide whether to issue subpoenas for documents and testimony concerning the National Security Agency's warrant-less wiretapping program. You can read more about the warrant-less wiretapping program here.

The program has been referred to as the "Domestic Spying Program" because it allows wiretaps to be planted without warrants on phone lines of American Citizens.

According to a press release from the American Civil Liberties Union, the director of the ACLU's Washington Legislative Office had this to say regarding the legislation: "Subpoenaing these documents is the only way to find out exactly what kind of legal ground the president's warrant-less wiretapping program was built on and how it is structured. With recent revelations that those in the Justice Department threatened to resign over the program, Congress is obligated to demand the road map that led them there. Too many administration officials have been vague and, at times, outright uncooperative in the face of legitimate Congressional requests and panels. It's time to cut through the stonewalling and get real answers."

Representative from the ACLU and other civil rights groups recently testified before the Senate panel regarding the program. The groups are requesting that the panel issue subpoenas for a variety of documents concerning the program. The requested documents include: Justice Department and Executive certifications and authorizations for the program; Executive branch memos concerning the program's current activities along with emails and other documents from the Executive branch that concern the programs legality.

The rights groups have also requested documents concerning any and all agreements made with telecommunications companies that assisted with the warrant-less surveillance program.