Update: This hearing has been vacated. In an order issued late Thursday, the judge indicated he would decide the government's motion based on the parties' briefs.

Los Angeles - On Monday, August 17, at 1:30 pm, the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) will urge a federal district court in Los Angeles to allow Human Rights Watch to proceed with its lawsuit against the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) for illegally collecting records of its telephone calls to certain foreign countries. 

As a nonpartisan organization fighting human rights abuses, Human Rights Watch’s work often requires communicating by telephone with its sources around the world. Those sources, who are often victims or witnesses of human rights abuses, often put themselves at risk simply by speaking to an international human rights organization.

Earlier this year, the organization learned from government statements and news reports that the DEA had collected records of HRW’s international calls for over two decades, along with those of millions of other Americans. The DEA’s bulk collection of call records reached into the billions, covering calls to over a hundred countries—occurring without judicial oversight or approval or the public’s knowledge. News reports suggested the DEA’s bulk collection program even served as the model on which the NSA’s call records program was based.

While the DEA’s program began as an effort in the “war on drugs,” it grew to reach far beyond drug prosecutions. News reports further revealed that Americans’ calling records were searched and shared with other law enforcement agencies, including the FBI and the Department of Homeland Security. In fact, the DEA’s massive telephone records collection was revealed in an export restriction prosecution having nothing to do with drugs. 

Human Rights Watch filed suit in April, seeking an injunction against any future operation of the program and the destruction of all illegally collected records. The DEA asked the court to dismiss the case in June, claiming that the program was over, so the court need not review it.  In the hearing Monday, EFF Staff Attorney Mark Rumold will argue that the case must continue in order to ensure that all of the call records are fully purged from all of the government’s systems.

WHAT:
HRW v. DEA

WHEN:
Monday, August 17
1:30 pm

WHERE:
Edward R. Roybal Federal Building and United States Courthouse
Courtroom 880
255 East Temple Street
Los Angeles, CA 90012-3332

For more on this case:
https://www.eff.org/cases/hrw-v-dea