Al-Haramain v. Obama

Al-Haramain v. Obama
Court	United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
Full case name	Al-Haramain Islamic Foundation, Wendell Belew, Asim Ghafoor v. Barack Obama, National Security Agency, Keith B. Alexander, Office of Foreign Assets Control, Adam J. Szubin, Federal Bureau of Investigation, Robert S. Mueller III
Argued	June 1, 2012
Decided	August 7, 2012
Citation	690 F.3d 1089
Case history
Prior history	Al-Haramain v. Bush, 507 F.3d 1190 (9th Cir. 2007)
Court membership
Judges sitting	Harry Pregerson, Michael Daly Hawkins, M. Margaret McKeown
Case opinions
Majority	McKeown, joined by a unanimous court
Laws applied
50 U.S.C.S. § 1810

Al-Haramain v. Obama, 690 F.3d 1089 (9th Cir. 2012)[1] was a case before the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California filed 28 February 2006 by the al-Haramain Foundation and its two attorneys concerning the NSA warrantless surveillance controversy.[2] The case withstood retroactive changes brought by the Congressional response to the NSA warrantless surveillance program.[3]

Background

In 2004 during proceedings to freeze al-Haramain Foundation, an Oregon Nonprofit Corporation, the government inadvertently gave the organization classified documents that suggest the foundation was subject to electronic surveillance. Al-Harmain and their two attorneys filed a lawsuit claiming violation of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act via unlawful surveillance, based on the classified documents that the government gave Al-Harmain. The district court found that the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act preempted the state secrets privilege and waived sovereign immunity for damages under 50 U.S.C.S. § 1810.[1]

Opinion

On March 31, 2010, Chief Judge Vaughn R. Walker granted partial summary judgment in favor of the plaintiffs,[4] because 50 U.S.C.S. § 1810 has no explicit waiver of sovereign immunity, and on 21 December awarded $2.5 million in attorneys' fees and about $41,000 to two of the three plaintiffs.[5][6] The court affirm the dismissal of claims against Mueller.

The district court was reversed and the case was subsequently dismissed by Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals on August 7, 2012.[1]

References

1. Al-Haramain v. Obama, 690 F.3d 1089 (9th Cir. 2012). This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
2. Pantesco, Joshua (February 28, 2006). "Islamic charity sues to shut down NSA warrantless wiretapping program". JURIST (University of Pittsburgh School of Law). Archived from the original on January 11, 2011.
3. Kaste, Martin (June 4, 2009). "Judge Tosses Warrantless Wiretap Cases". National Public Radio.
4. Glenn, Matt (April 1, 2010). "Federal judge rules for Islamic charity in NSA wiretapping case". JURIST (University of Pittsburgh School of Law). Archived from the original on January 11, 2011.
5. "Walker Awards $41K Damages, $2.5 Million Fee in Wiretap Case". The Recorder.
6. In Re National Security Agency Telecommunications Records, Al-Haramain et. al v. Obama et. al, U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California

External links

Text of Al-Haramain v. Obama, 690 F.3d 1089 (9th Cir. 2012) is available from: CourtListener Findlaw Leagle Google Scholar