Civil liberties groups Tuesday hailed the withdrawal of subpoenas issued last week to four peace activists by federal prosecutors in Des Moines, Iowa as a significant victory, but insisted that the government must explain why they were issued in the first place. The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), in particular, wanted to know why the Justice Department had undertaken such an apparently sweeping investigation of a recent seminar sponsored by the National Lawyers Guild (NLG) at Drake University. “In the two years since 9/11, we have heard one refrain from the Justice Department every time the executive branch seeks to arrogate more power to itself: ‘trust us, we’re the government,'” said Benjamin Stone, executive director of the Iowa ACLU. “But if it is going to be issuing secretive, slapdash subpoenas and then rescinding them to save face, how can we trust that more expansive surveillance and investigative powers will be used properly?” Full Story
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