Aug. 17 (Bloomberg) -- A federal judge ordered the U.S. government to stop warrantless wiretapping of international telephone calls between suspected terrorists and their U.S.-based affiliates, ruling that the eavesdropping violates the Constitution and federal law.

The U.S. is appealing the ruling and its effect is being temporarily blocked, Attorney General Alberto Gonzales said at a news conference in Washington. ``We will continue to utilize the program to ensure that America is safer,'' Gonzales said.

U.S. District Judge Anna Diggs Taylor in Detroit upheld a challenge by the American Civil Liberties Union and other advocacy groups to the surveillance program begun after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. By not seeking court permission for the surveillance, Taylor said, President George W. Bush violated the U.S. Constitution's separation of powers providing for the three branches of government to act as checks on each other's power.

``It was never the intent of the framers to give the president such unfettered control, particularly where his actions blatantly disregard the parameters clearly enumerated in the Bill of Rights,'' the judge wrote in the 43-page opinion.

``We couldn't disagree more with this ruling,'' White House Press Secretary Tony Snow said in a statement. ``United States intelligence officials have confirmed that the program has helped stop terrorist attacks and saved American lives.''

`Feisty' Debate

Bruce Fein, a former Justice Department official who has testified in Congress that the surveillance program is illegal, predicted that Taylor's decision would be overturned on appeal. Courts are traditionally reluctant to step into a ``feisty political debate'' such as the current dispute between Congress and Bush over the legality of the surveillance, he said.

Fein said the ruling's weakest part is Taylor's finding that those who sued -- a group of lawyers, academics and activists -- could bring the suit to protect their free-speech rights. The Supreme Court in 1972 threw out a lawsuit by Vietnam war demonstrators who claimed their free-speech rights were hurt by an FBI program to monitor anti-war protests, he said.

The ACLU said it agreed to a temporary block on Taylor's ruling until the court rules on the government's request for a longer-term order to keep the decision from taking effect during the appeal, a request the ACLU said it opposes.

Anthony Romero, the ACLU's executive director, hailed the ruling in an e-mailed statement as ``a landmark victory against the abuse of power that has become the hallmark of the Bush administration.''

Military Force

Taylor's ruling rejected the government's argument that the program was authorized by a resolution empowering Bush to use military force in response to the terrorist attacks as well as the president's inherent powers as commander-in-chief.

``The office of the chief executive was itself created, with its powers, by the Constitution,'' wrote Taylor, a 73-year-old senior judge appointed by Democratic President Jimmy Carter. ``There are no hereditary kings in America and no powers not created by the Constitution. So all `inherent powers' must derive from the Constitution.''

Gonzales said the program was narrowly focused on communications with the al-Qaeda terrorist organization.

``We have confidence in the lawfulness of this program,'' he said.

The ruling will fuel the election-year debate in Congress over placing Bush's surveillance program under court supervision.

`Real Threat'

Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, a Tennessee Republican, called the ruling ``unfortunate'' in a statement that said, ``Terrorists are the real threat to our constitutional and democratic freedoms, not the law enforcement and intelligence tools used to keep America safe.''

The ruling is ``the latest example of how the Bush administration has jeopardized our efforts in the war on terror,'' Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, a Nevada Democrat, said in a statement. ``It is time for the administration to work with the Congress to develop effective tools to defeat terrorists.''

The National Security Agency surveillance program was disclosed last December by the New York Times. Since then, Congress has debated whether to place the surveillance program under court supervision like other intelligence-gathering covered by the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act.

Under the 1978 law, the Justice Department obtains warrants from a secret court to conduct wiretapping of telephone calls of suspected spies or terrorists by providing evidence the subjects of the eavesdropping are acting as agents of a foreign power.

Last month, Bush agreed to support legislation sponsored by Republican Senator Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania that would submit the program for review by the secret court.

The legislation would authorize the court to review the program's constitutionality. It would not require the president to submit the program to the court. Still, Bush agreed to ask the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court to review the program if Congress passed the legislation in the form drafted by Specter.

To contact the reporter on this story: James Rowley in Washington jarowley@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: August 17, 2006 16:31 EDT