The Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR) Thursday challenged the constitutionality of the Protect America Act of 2007, which expands by six months the government’s authority for surveillance while Congress updates the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. CCR made the challenge in a federal district court case (CCR v. Bush) that deals with the National Security Agency’s domestic surveillance program.

CCR argued that the legislation violates the Fourth Amendment’s requirement that judges approve warrants for surveillance upon evidence of probable cause. According to CCR, ‘[t]he law effectively removes oversight for spying from the FISA court and leaves it up to the Executive Branch to monitor itself, with Attorney General Gonzales having the primary responsibility for oversight.’

Source: http://www.ccr-ny.org/v2/reports/report.asp?ObjID=zA1Jb24BK4&Content=1084