Page:ACLU v. NSA Opinion (August 17, 2006), US District Court, East-Michigan.djvu/18

 their communications will be intercepted. They also allege injury based on the increased financial burden they incur in having to travel substantial distances to meet personally with their clients and others relevant to their cases.

The ability to communicate confidentially is an indispensable part of the attorney-client relationship. As University of Michigan legal ethics professor Leonard Niehoff explains, attorney-client confidentiality is "central to the functioning of the attorney-client relationship and to effective representation." He further explains that Defendants' TSP "creates an overwhelming, if not insurmountable, obstacle to effective and ethical representation" and that although Plaintiffs are resorting to other "inefficient" means for gathering information, the TSP continues to cause "substantial and ongoing harm to the attorney-client relationships and legal representations." He explains that the increased risk that privileged communications will be intercepted forces attorneys to cease telephonic and electronic communications with clients to fulfill their ethical responsibilities.

Defendants argue that the allegations present no more than a "chilling effect" based upon purely speculative fears that the TSP subjects the Plaintiffs to surveillance. In arguing that the injuries are not constitutionally cognizable, Defendants rely heavily on the case of Laird v. Tatum, (1972). [*19]