LOS ANGELES — The American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California today asked Congress to hold the White House in contempt. Having disregarded the second deadline for compliance with Senate Judiciary Committee subpoenas, the White House, Office of the Vice President and Department of Justice can now be held in contempt of Congress.

The original subpoenas were issued June 27 and sought materials related to the National Security Agency's warrantless wiretapping program. The White House received an extension in July and the second deadline for compliance was Monday at 2:30 p.m. The ACLU is asking Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-VT) and the committee to vote to hold the offices in contempt upon Congress' return in September and, if necessary, force compliance through court proceedings.

'This failure to comply with the subpoenas is just the latest attempt to withhold critical information from the American people,' said Ramona Ripston, executive director of the ACLU of Southern California. 'We can't just continue to trust them as they accumulate more and more power without public scrutiny. The time has come to hold them accountable and force them to answer questions. We need to know how the government is justifying this illegal, warrantless wiretapping program.'

In the first effort of its kind, the ACLU filed a request on August 8 with the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISC) requesting that it disclose recent legal opinions discussing the scope of the government's authority to engage in secret wiretapping of Americans. In their aggressive push to justify passing this ill-advised legislation, the administration and members of Congress made repeated and veiled references to orders issued by the FISC earlier this year. On August 17th, the court said the request was "unprecedented" and required the government to respond to the ACLU's request by August 31.

The ACLU is also continuing its challenge in the courts to the president's illegal wiretapping plan. In July, the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals reversed the District Court's decision declaring the NSA program unconstitutional and ruled that the ACLU's clients — scholars, journalists, and national nonprofit organizations — were not entitled to sue because they could not state with certainty that they had been secretly wiretapped by the NSA. The ACLU is currently weighing its options, including an appeal to the Supreme Court.

'Runaway executive privilege and warrantless spying on Americans are two issues our membership feels passionately about because they directly impact our Constitution,' said Susanne Savage, ACLU/SC's Field Director. 'Because of these breaches to our country's most sacred document, the ACLU/SC will be launching a new project, Campaign for Our Constitution, to help bring back checks and balances and Fourth Amendment protections against unreasonable searches and seizures without probable cause.'

The campaign and its website, www.ourconstitution.net will launch after Labor Day.