CDT Weighs In On Mayfield Case

In a brief filed today with the Ninth Circuit of Appeals, the Center for Democracy & Technology asked the court to strike down a provision of the Patriot Act as unconstitutional. That provision allows the government to use intelligence authorities to conduct searches for criminal purposes without first having probable cause of a crime. CDT and three other civil liberties groups, in the case of Portland, Ore.-based attorney Brandon Mayfield, filed the amicus brief. The government wrongly suspected Mayfield of involvement in the 2004 Madrid train bombings.