Federal Government Asserts State Secrets Privilege In Mosque Surveillance Lawsuit

AP reported yesterday that the federal government has taken the unusual step of asserting the state secrets privilege in a motion to dismiss most of a lawsuit filed in federal district court in southern California against the FBI over its use of informants to infiltrate mosques. The lawsuit, filed by the ACLU of Southern California and CAIR alleged that targeting Muslim Americans amounts to religious discrimination and asked for the FBI to turn over or destroy all information gathered through the investigation.It also sought damages for emotional distress for three named plaintiffs. (See prior posting.) The motion filed Monday by Attorney General Eric Holder asserts that it could cause significant harm to national security if the government is required to disclose the subjects of a 2006 mosque-surveillance operation, disclose why it was undertaken and describe how the monitoring was carried out.