PORTLAND - A federal judge has given the government until May 12 to come up with a better argument for keeping secret its case about a secret document related to the National Security Agency's warrantless surveillance program.

Government lawyers tried to file a secret declaration in a lawsuit challenging the surveillance program.

But U.S. District Judge Garr King said Tuesday that attorneys representing an Islamic charity in Oregon have a right to know the arguments the goverment is making in order to block their lawsuit against the NSA.

“To the extent it can be done without compromising national security interests, a litigant has a right to know the legal and factual positions being taken by the government so they can respond to them,” King said, according to an audio transcript of a conference call with government attorneys.

King is one of the few judges across the country to challenge government attempts to discuss national security issues out of the presence of opposing attorneys.

“I believe the court should avoid, if possible, receiving secret declarations from one side and basing decisions on facts or arguments not disclosed to the other side,” King said.

The lawsuit was filed in late February by the Oregon chapter of Al-Haramain, a defunct Saudi Arabian charity, and two of its attorneys. The lawsuit claims that federal officials illegally intercepted telephone calls between Soliman al-Buthe, an Al-Haramain director, and two attorneys based in Washington, D.C.

Since The New York Times revealed the NSA's warrantless wiretapping program in December, several civil lawsuits have challenged the legality of the program. In addition, lawyers in a half dozen criminal cases have asked for evidence obtained by warrantless wiretapping.

Government officials have responded by filing secret responses not available to opposing counsel or the public. Judges have generally ruled in favor of the government without explaining why.

In the Al-Haramain case, lawyers for the charity filed a classified document under seal that they say supports their claim that the government illegally intercepted phone calls.

In March, The Oregonian newspaper in Portland filed a motion seeking to unseal the classified document in order to expose possible illegal conduct by government officials.

In a public response, the government admitted that the classified document was inadvertently turned over to a lawyer for Al-Haramain in August 2004. But government officials said the public had no right to classified information.

“Any disclosure of that document would be of grave injury to national security,” Andrea Marie Gacki, an attorney with the U.S. Department of Justice, said during Tuesday's conference call.

But in legal papers, Al-Haramain lawyers questioned the threat to national security, noting the FBI did not attempt to retrieve it for two months after it was inadvertently released.

“Where is the grave threat to national security?” Steven Goldberg, a Portland attorney representing Al-Haramain, asked during the conference call.

King said he would consider those questions when deciding whether to unseal the document.