A majority of Michigan voters agree the Bush administration's warrantless surveillance of international e-mails and phone calls is unconstitutional, according to a poll conducted last week by Lansing-based EPIC-MRA.
Fifty-six percent of 600 likely voters agreed with last week's ruling by U.S. District Judge Anna Diggs Taylor in Detroit, who ruled the warrantless surveillance program is unconstitutional.
The poll had a sampling error of 4 percent.
Political science senior Josh Hoisington said on Tuesday he agrees with the federal judge's ruling and that surveillance on individuals suspected of terrorism is a mere scare tactic.
"I completely agree with the decision that domestic wiretapping is unconstitutional, specifically domestic wiretapping," Hoisington said.
The surveillance program monitors international phone calls and e-mails to or from the United States involving people the government suspects have terrorist links.
The American Civil Liberties Union, or ACLU, was among the organizations that filed a lawsuit in January against the government regarding the surveillance program.
Henry Silverman, vice president of the Lansing branch of the Michigan ACLU, said the amount of people who agree with the decision is encouraging.
"I'd like to believe the vast majority of Americans are waking up to the danger of these sort of things," he said.
"What the government does isn't always right and proper. We need support of people, and that's what we have done."
Silverman said although the public is aware of the wiretapping surveillance program because of insiders who leaked the information to The New York Times, he said it's hard to know what other illegal tactics the federal government might be using.
The ruling is expected to be appealed and then go to the U.S. Supreme Court, where the real challenge lies, Silverman said.
"I think it's the same kind of case, even though it doesn't have to do with prisoners or Guantanamo," he said.
Silverman said he was encouraged by the 2004 ruling against the government's abuse of power in the case involving prisoners in the Guantanamo Bay detention facility by a conservative court.
Political theory and constitutional democracy junior Katie Lester on Tuesday said this behavior by a governmental body is unfounded.
"Bush's wiretapping is extremely unconstitutional," Lester said. "It flies in the face of 50 years of freedom, 50 years of people being able to say what they want without being held accountable by the government."
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
