Prometheus 6

Quote of note:

The 29-page decision, if permitted to stand, would lift the federally imposed order that is keeping the nonprofit organization from identifying itself as the recipient of a recent request for patron information from the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

Plaintiffs Win Round in Lawsuit on Patriot Act
By ALISON LEIGH COWAN

BRIDGEPORT, Conn., Sept. 9 - A federal judge ruled on Friday that the government cannot continue to bar the representatives of a nonprofit organization from speaking out about the sweeping powers that the antiterrorism law known as the USA Patriot Act gives investigators seeking library records.

In a ruling being followed by librarians, civil libertarians and others involved in the continuing debate over reauthorization of the law, Judge Janet C. Hall of United States District Court granted an emergency request by the American Civil Liberties Union for a preliminary injunction. Judge Hall found that the government fell short in meeting the heavy burden of proof needed to argue that national security interests warrant ignoring the organization's First Amendment right to free speech.

The 29-page decision, if permitted to stand, would lift the federally imposed order that is keeping the nonprofit organization from identifying itself as the recipient of a recent request for patron information from the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

The judge, however, granted a stay along with her ruling giving the United States attorney's office until Sept. 20 to persuade the federal Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit to overturn her decision. If that court fails to act quickly, she wrote, then the plaintiffs would be free to identify themselves and comment on some aspects of the case.