FISA OUTRAGE UPDATE

The bill the House Dems agreed to is essentially an abrogation of the 4th Amendment for the telcoms. To quash all the civil suits against the telcoms for illegal wiretapping, all the Administration has to do is get the Attorney General to say that the companies were acting on good faith.

Spy bill to shield phone companies from lawsuits
Thu Jun 19, 2008 7:26pm EDT

By Thomas Ferraro
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. telephone companies that took part in President George W. Bush's warrantless domestic spying program could be shielded from billions of dollars in lawsuits under a electronic spy bill finalized on Thursday by congressional and White House negotiators.

Under the measure, federal courts would determine if the evidence supports protection of companies from civil liability.

They would be able to dismiss a suit if there is written certification that the White House asked a company to participate and assured it of the legality of the warrantless surveillance that Bush secretly began after the September 11 attacks.

Glenn Greenwald dug out the relevant part of the bill:

The provision granting amnesty to lawbreaking telecoms, Title VIII, has the exact Orwellian title it should have: "Protection of Persons Assisting the Government." Section 802(a) provides:

[A] civil action may not lie or be maintained in a Federal or State court against any person for providing assistance to an element of the intelligence community, and shall be properly dismissed, if the Attorney General certifies to the district court of the United States in which such action is pending that . . . (4) the assistance alleged to have been provided . . . was --

(A) in connection with intelligence activity involving communications that was (i) authorized by the President during the period beginning on September 11, 2001, and ending on January 17, 2007 and (ii) designed to prevent or detect a terrorist attack, or activities in preparation of a terrorist attack, against the United States" and

(B) the subject of a written request or directive . . . indicating that the activity was (i) authorized by the President; and (ii) determined to be lawful.