Judge Allows Secrecy to Stand in Spying Documents Suit: "The Pentagon and the Justice Department do not have to turn over classified documents related to the Administration's warrant-free spying on Americans communications, according to a judge who was presiding over a open government case filed by The New York Times.' The judge ruled the agencies were allowed to'withhold the documents from the open government document request in order to protect intelligence'sources and methods, according to the Associated Press.

The government does have to further defend its withholding of non-classified documents related to the program, but given the intense secrecy surrounding the program there is likely little of interest in those documents.

The New York Times, which broke the story of the government's secret end run around the nation's wiretapping laws in December 2005 after sitting on the story for more than a year, is not the only entity seeking documents on the matter.'

The Senate Judiciary Committee has issued subpoenas for the legal documents evaluating the program, setting up a possible constitutional showdown with the President. Meanwhile, the Electronic Privacy Information Center and ACLU have a case pending requesting documents similar to those wanted by the Times.

AP'story.

(Read Original Article - Via Threat Level.)