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Thursday, January 15, 2009

ACLU challenges secrecy of US whistleblower law

The American Civil Liberties Union filed a lawsuit Thursday challenging the constitutionality of a law that requires whistleblowers with allegations of war profiteering or other contract fraud to file their lawsuits in secret.

The secrecy requirements of the federal False Claims Act violate freedom-of-speech protections and have kept war fraud complaints in Iraq and elsewhere hidden from public view, the ACLU says in its lawsuit.

"Secret courts and secret proceedings have no place in this country," said Chris Hansen, senior attorney with the ACLU's First Amendment Working Group, in a statement.

The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in Alexandria, also alleges that the Justice Department has abused the law to keep allegations hidden for years.

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