The American Civil Liberties Union threw a wrinkle into the New Jersey governor's race yesterday and gave some new ammunition to Republican Chris Christie's opponents.

The ACLU, through a federal lawsuit, obtained Department of Justice documents showing that Christie, as U.S. Attorney for New Jersey, authorized tracking suspects through their cell phones without obtaining a warrant.

"Big Brother is tucked away in our cell phones, and the man behind the curtain is Chris Christie," said Deborah Jacobs, executive director of the ACLU's New Jersey chapter.

The practice isn't illegal, though, and Christie told The Star-Ledger he had obtained court approval for the tracking. In 66 of the 79 instances of tracking done by the New Jersey U.S. Attorney's office, including some before and after Christie took office, the tracking by the led to criminal prosecutions, according to the Justice department.

Christie told the Ledger that the criticism was "overblown."

"Every time that technology was used, it was with court authorization," he said. "That's the standard. There was no policy in place that said to us you have to get a search warrant."

But his leading Republican opponent, Steve Lonegan, said the actions go against conservative principles of limited government and privacy rights.

And if Christie makes it to the general election against Gov. Corzine, expect the issue to come back up as well. Democrats have already been trying to tie Christie to former President Bush, and this information could easily be linked, in a campaign, to the former president's controversial wire-tapping programs. Even if Christie's answers satisfy voters, it's never good for a politician to have to explain himself on an issue this heated.

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