by D. Cupples | It's what many bloggers have been saying for months: the Bush Administration is feverishly devoted to granting retroactive immunity to law-breaking telecommunications companies because allowing them to get hauled into court would likely expose records that double as evidence of Administration officials' crimes.
It's a very practical, albeit self-serving, move on President Bush's part. Yesterday's Washington Post reported:
President Bush said last week that telecommunications companies that helped government wiretapping efforts need protection from 'class-action plaintiff attorneys' who see a 'financial gravy train' ahead. Democrats and privacy groups responded by accusing the Bush administration of trying to shut down the lawsuits to hide evidence of illegal acts.
But in the bitter Washington dispute over whether to give the companies legal immunity, there is one thing on which both sides agree: If the lawsuits go forward, sensitive details about the scope and methods of the Bush administration's surveillance efforts could be divulged for the first time.
Nearly 40 lawsuits, consolidated into five groups, are pending before a San Francisco judge. The various plaintiffs, a mix of nonprofit civil liberties advocates and private attorneys, are seeking to prove that the Bush administration engaged in illegal massive surveillance of Americans' e-mails and phone calls after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, and to show that major phone companies illegally aided the surveillance, including the disclosure of customers' call records....
Perhaps most important, disclosures in the lawsuits could clarify the scope of the government's surveillance and establish whether, as the plaintiffs allege, it involved the massive interception of purely domestic communications with the help of the nation's largest providers: AT&T, Cingular Wireless, BellSouth, Sprint and MCI/Verizon. (Verizon Communications bought MCI in 2006.)
"'I think the administration would be very loath for folks to realize that ordinary people were being surveilled,' said Kurt Opsahl, senior staff attorney for the Electronic Frontier Foundation, which filed the lead lawsuit, against AT&T.
A prime goal in the litigation is to find out who the decision makers were, said Don Migliori, a partner with Motley Rice in Providence, R.I., a plaintiffs' attorney who is working on the lawsuit against Verizon. The plaintiffs intend to request not just government documents but also e-mails, including who contacted whom and when -- the very sort of 'meta-data' that the administration is accused of mining as part of its surveillance program. (Washington Post)
Yes, in other words, we taxpayers might find out who should be held accountable -- both government and corporate players.
Arguments about protecting national security don't work here, because a judge could review any subpoenaed records in secret.
The Post further reports:
"Last fall, former attorney general John D. Ashcroft signed a letter to top members of the Senate Judiciary Committee urging retroactive immunity for the companies. His consulting firm, the Ashcroft Group, was on retainer to AT&T at the time. An Ashcroft spokeswoman declined comment."
It was awfully considerate of her to decline to comment, thereby sparing us the skyrocketing blood pressure that normally accompanies a huge jolt of outrage.
See Memeorandum for other commentary.
Other BN-Politics Posts:
* So, Let him Veto FISA (and "Protect Terrorists")
* Domestic Spying Started Before 9/11 & Money Changed Hands
* U.S. Intel Chief Made False Statements re: Domestic Spying
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