[JURIST] In the wake of a lawsuit from groups including the ACLU [advocacy website] and Greenpeace [advocacy website], the US Department of Justice [official website] has admitted that the FBI [official website] has thousands of pages of records on file from scrutinizing US civil rights, environmental and other advocacy groups. The groups want the documents released and contend the files were compiled by FBI counterterrorism agents. Though the FBI has not said specifically what the files contain, it has identified 1,173 pages on the ACLU and 2,383 pages about Greenpeace, and it says it needs months to review the documents, according to a court filing. Several documents already released indicate that FBI agents acting for the counterterrorism division monitored websites [Washington Post report] urging protests at the 2004 Republican and Democratic convention in New York and Boston. ACLU executive director Anthony Romero [ACLU profile] said he knows "for an absolute fact that we have not been involved in anything related to promoting terrorism." Government spokesmen declined to comment on the ongoing case. AP has more.