Court rules peace activists can sue the U.S. military for infiltrationselfnews Post This has never been done before, said NLG member attorney Larry Hildes, who is handling the case. The U.S. government has spied on political dissidents throughout history and this particular plot lasted through two presidencies, but never before has a court said that we can challenge it the way we have. The ruling is the latest development in the lawsuit, Panagacos v. Towery, first brought by Hildes in 2009 on behalf of a group of Washington state antiwar activists who found themselves infiltrated by John Towery, an employee at a fusion center inside a local Army base. Fusion centers are multi-jurisdictional intelligence facilities which house federal and local law enforcement agencies alongside military units and private security companies. Their operations are largely secret and unregulated. There are currently 77 fusion centers in the United States. The latest ruling denies the governments appeal on the basis that the allegations of First and Fourth Amendment violations carried out by Towery are plausible. His lawyers have until December 31 to appeal the decision. If they do not appeal, the case will return to district court and the discovery phase will begin. The National Lawyers Guild is the oldest and largest public interest/human rights bar organization in the United States. Its headquarters are in New York and it has members in every state. Read other articles and press releases from selfnews Post Here linkwithin_text=Related Articles: 