Plaintiffs in case against CIA surveillance discuss judge’s decision to reject CIA’s Motion to dismiss.
US Judge Allows Lawsuit Against CIA by Assange Visitors to Move Forward.
Lead attorney Richard Roth of The Roth Law Firm, along with plaintiffs Margaret Ratner Kunstler, a civil rights lawyer, and media lawyer Deborah Hrbek, held a ZOOM press conference Friday, Dec. 22 at 1:00 pm EST to answer journalists’ questions regarding their lawsuit against the C.I.A. for allegedly violating their Fourth Amendment rights.
Judge John G. Koeltl of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York in Manhattan rejected a C.I.A. motion to dismiss the lawsuit brought by four American citizens alleging they were wrongfully spied on while visiting Julian Assange at the Ecuadorian embassy in London in an illicit scheme to seize the plaintiff’s electronic devices.
In his 27-page decision, Koetl said: “[t]he plaintiffs’ complaint contains sufficient allegations that the C.I.A. and [former C.I.A. Director Mike] Pompeo, through [David] Morales and UC Global, violated their reasonable expectation of privacy in the contents of their electronic devices.”
The Court said that because Pompeo “in an April 2017 speech … Pompeo ‘pledged that his office would embark upon a ‘long term’ campaign against WikiLeaks,’ ” there was sufficient reason for the case to continue Judge Koeltl’s opinion and order can be found here.
Attorney Roth for the plaintiffs said: “We are thrilled that the Court rejected the C.I.A.’s efforts to silence the Plaintiffs, who merely seek to expose the C.I.A.’s attempt to carry out Pompeo’s vendetta against WikiLeaks.”