Hoover scholar joins lawsuit
against Bush administration

From the Palo Alto Online news website

Hoover Institution scholar and Stanford University Professor Larry Diamond is part of a lawsuit filed today by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) against the Bush administration for alleged spying on Americans.

Diamond, in a statement posted on the ACLU Web site, said he joined the lawsuit "to bring a halt to the warrantless surveillance by the (National Security Agency) for both professional and principled reasons.

"Professionally, my work as a political scientist studying, teaching about, and working to advance democratic development around the world depends on my ability to communicate freely with people throughout the world who are working for democratic change or who have information and analysis that bears on the struggle.

"There is also the problem of being able to communicate with students of mine who are doing their own research, or conducting research for me, in countries that are being monitored through warrantless surveillance, and on subjects that are politically sensitive, such as the prospects for democratic regime change or the opposition movement in a particular country."

The ACLU is one of two civil rights groups that filed awsuits against the Bush administration today, the New York Times reported. The second group is the Center for Constitutional Rights. ...