House Democrats refuse to delete pending spy lawsuits

[maddezmom]

House Democrats refuse to delete pending spy lawsuits
Posted by Anne Broache | Post a comment
Congressional Democrats on Tuesday dug in on their refusal to pass a revamped surveillance law that could wipe out some 40 lawsuits accusing telephone companies of illegal cooperation with government spies.

According to summary documents provided by U.S. House of Representatives Majority Leader Steny Hoyer's office, Democratic leaders are preparing to debate yet another new bill that would not offer so-called "retroactive immunity" to companies that allegedly opened up their networks to the National Security Agency without a court order. At least in theory, that means cases like the one the Electronic Frontier Foundation filed against AT&T should be able to proceed.

In addition, the new proposal would allow the judge providing over such cases to review otherwise classified evidence about the extent of government wiretapping. The Bush administration has argued such documents cannot be used in litigation because "state secrets" may be revealed.

The new bill's full text was not made available at press time, but it is expected to go to a floor vote as early as Thursday. Its passage, however, is hardly a sure thing, as it's already drawing attacks from Republican politicians and the president.

more:http://www.news.com/8301-10784_3-9891367-7.html