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'Not Implausible' FISA May Surmount Attorney-Client Privilege

Attorney counseling terrorism suspects have faced the violation of attorney-client privilege because of governmental surveillance, The Nation reports. One attorney discovered that every one of 42 phone calls with his clients had been recorded. Conversations between indicted defendants are off limits, but pre-indictment suspects are having their conversations with their lawyers surveilled, The Nation reports. Despite the arguments of many attorneys that they need confidentiality in order to represent their clients and gain their clients' trust, UCLA professor Norm Abrams struck a dour note: "'Given the fact that FISA modifies the otherwise applicable Fourth Amendment rules—the argument that FISA may also overcome the Fourth Amendment and attorney-client privilege, it’s not implausible.”'