Bush administration sued over library records

Academe, Jan/Feb 2003

A group of public interest organizations sued the Bush administration in October demanding information about how the U.S. Justice Department is monitoring library and bookstore records. The passage of the USA Patriot Act in October 2001 greatly expanded the Justice Department's power to search such records and to keep its investigations secret. (See "Groups Question Justice Department" on page 7 of the November-December issue for more information.)

In August public interest groups sought information from the department under the Freedom of Information Act, but the request was ignored. The lawsuit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union, the American Booksellers Foundation for Free Expression, the Electronic Privacy Information Center, and the Freedom to Read Foundation, a group established by the American Library Association to defend First Amendment rights, focuses on the implementation of those Patriot Act provisions that have "obvious and serious implications for individual privacy and freedom of speech."