CHICAGO – A federal judge in a Chicago terrorism case says the government doesn't have to disclose whether it employed the kind of phone and Internet surveillance revealed in leaks by ex-government contractor Edward Snowden.
The pretrial ruling dealt only with Adel Daoud's case. He denies seeking to detonate a bomb outside a Chicago bar in 2012.
Defense lawyers wanted the judge to order the government to say whether it used enhanced surveillance to flag Daoud for investigation. They argued that would have violated his rights.
But Judge Sharon Johnson Coleman said in a docket entry late Friday that Daoud's attorneys "failed to provide any basis" for an order.
Prosecutors say they won't use evidence derived directly from enhanced surveillance at trial, so aren't obliged to disclose if they ever used it.
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