A court test ahead for warrantless wiretaps

The Justice Department has notified a suspected terrorist for the first time that evidence gained through a warrantless wiretap was used to build a criminal case against him, setting the stage for a potential Supreme Court test of such government eavesdropping. Prosecutors sent the notice last week to Jamshid Muhtorov, who was charged in 2012 with providing material support to the Islamic Jihad Union in Uzbekistan. Court documents suggest that the government monitored his emails, Internet usage, and telephone. Muhtorov’s lawyer will now be able to ask a court to suppress that evidence on the basis that it came from unconstitutional surveillance, triggering a judicial review.