Tell Obama: Stop blocking court review of illegal wiretapping.

In the heat of the presidential campaign then Sen. Barack Obama cast his lot with AT&T and Verizon by voting to give big telecom companies retroactive immunity for allegedly helping the White House illegally spy on Americans. It was one of the most disappointing moments of the campaign.

However, he did forcefully oppose Bush administration's use of "states secrets" privilege to get cases thrown out of civil court. According to the Obama/Biden campaign web site:

Secrecy Dominates Government Actions: The Bush administration has ignored public disclosure rules and has invoked a legal tool known as the "state secrets" privilege more than any other previous administration to get cases thrown out of civil court.

But now, to the dismay of civil liberties groups, President Obama is using the "state secrets" defense to make the case that the United States' government is completely immune from litigation for illegal spying and can never be sued for surveillance that violates federal privacy statutes.

That's what happened on April 2, when President Obama's lawyers invoked Bush's radical theory of executive power to dismiss the Electronic Frontier Foundation's litigation against the National Security Agency for the warrantless wiretapping of countless Americans.

Of course the government should be able to prevent the exposure of information that may endanger our national security. But that can be accomplished with legal tools to ensure that judges with the proper clearances review evidence the government claims is privileged rather than relying solely on government affidavits. Without court oversight, there is no check over abuse of the state secrets privilege -- no matter what party is in the White House.

When it comes to the abuse of "state secrets" defense, we agree with candidate Obama, not President Obama. If EFF's case against the NSA is dismissed, we may never know the extent of the Bush administration's illegal spying on Americans.

Sign this petition today to ask President Obama to stop asserting "state secrets" privilege and let the courts rightfully decide if government spying violates the constitution.