Americans fought a revolution in 1776 to end the government's blanket
power to invade individuals' privacy. We must return to our roots and
restore the Constitution immediately: No surveillance of Americans' communications without a warrant.

The law allowed the F.B.I. not only to force communications companies,
including telephone and Internet providers, to turn over the records
without court authorization, but also to forbid the companies to tell
the customers or anyone else what they had done. Under the law, enacted
last year, the ability of the courts to review challenges to the ban on
disclosures was quite limited.

"The Justice Department's attempt to quash Mr. El-Masri's pursuit of justice discredits the Department's mission, to 'prosecute on behalf of
justice,'" said Virginia Sloan, president of the Constitution Project.
"Rather than stand accountable for its actions this administration has

Sir, Not a crumb of evidence substantiates Jack Goldsmith's encyclical that Islamist terrorists

are too terrifying for traditional criminal justice ("The global convergence on terror", August 1)