Constitutional Law

Md. Spy Program Ensnared Many, Including Nuns

A spy program launched by Maryland officials in 2005 resulted in nuns, a pacifist, a lobbyist and a Democratic congressional candidate, being tagged as potential terrorists, the Los Angeles Times reported. More information continues to dribble out about the program, which was created after the Sept. 11 terrorist strikes during former Maryland Gov. Robert Ehrlich’s (R) administration, because of a lawsuit filed by the ACLU. In October, Maryland State Police Superintendent Terrance B. Sheridan discussed, in limited detail, the program before a state senate committee. Sheridan acknowledged that 53 nonviolent activists were collected in a Maryland database and shared with other state and federal agencies. The Maryland program has been abolished and Sheridan told state lawmakers that letters would be sent to the individuals notifying them that their names would be removed from the database.

The Times report revealed that a Maryland State trooper had “infiltrated more than two dozen rallies and meetings of nonviolent groups.” State files on the program, which have been released because of the lawsuit, show that Maryland officials spied on reproductive rights groups, anti-death penalty groups and anti-war groups. Stephen Sachs, a former state attorney general who investigated the spying program for Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley (D), told the newspaper that state troopers had violated federal regulations and “significantly overreached.”

Full post as published by ACS Blog on December 08, 2008 (boomark / email).