Legal Beat

"Attempting to demonstrate that the (Terrorist Surveillance Program) was not the content dragnet plaintiffs allege, or that the NSA has not otherwise engaged in the alleged content dragnet, would require the disclosure of highly classified NSA intelligence sources and methods about the TSP and other NSA activities," the Justice Department told Walker.

The Obama administration hasn't been shy about invoking state secrets to defend its predecessor's controversial counterterrorism policies. In February, the Justice Department cited state secrets in asking Walker to dismiss another lawsuit against NSA surveillance. Also in February, the Justice Department maintained the Bush administration's state secrets privilege defense in a 9th Circuit appeal of a lawsuit against a company allegedly involved in the CIA "rendition" program of transferring suspected terrorists to other countries, allegedly to be tortured.

"President Obama promised the American people a new era of transparency, accountability, and respect for civil liberties," said Kevin Bankston, an EFF attorney. "But with the Obama Justice Department continuing the Bush administration's cover-up of the National Security Agency's dragnet surveillance of millions of Americans, and insisting that the much-publicized warrantless wiretapping program is still a 'secret' that cannot be reviewed by the courts, it feels like deja vu all over again."