Groups File Lawsuits Over Eavesdropping

Groups File Lawsuits Over Eavesdropping

WASHINGTON - Two leading civil rights groups filed lawsuits today against the Bush administration over its domestic spying program to determine whether the operation was used to monitor 10 defense lawyers, journalists, scholars, political activists and other Americans with ties to the Middle East.

The two lawsuits are the first major court challenges to the eavesdropping program. They were filed separately by the American Civil Liberties Union in Federal District Court in Detroit, and by the Center for Constitutional Rights in Federal District Court in Manhattan.

Both groups are seeking to have the courts order an immediate end to the program, which the groups say is illegal and unconstitutional. The Bush administration has strongly defended the legality and necessity of the surveillance program, and officials said the Justice Department would probably oppose the lawsuits on national security grounds.

Justice Department officials would not comment on any specific individuals who might have been singled out under the National Security Agency program, and they said the department would review the lawsuits once they were filed.