The battle for accountable government goes on...
http://blog.wired.com/27bstroke6/2008/10/telecom-spying.htmlThe government's attempt to give retroactive immunity to the companies that helped the Bush administration's warrantless spying program violates the Constitution by ripping from the courts the power to hear citizens' grievances against the government, a rights group told a federal court Thursday.
The Electronic Frontier Foundation is also challenging the government's assertion to the court that the program wasn't a "dragnet" that pulled in the contents of millions of Americans, arguing that the government is playing word games.
The filing late Thursday night comes three months after the Democratically-controlled Congress gave in to political pressure and gave the Attorney General the power to tell a court to dismiss lawsuits against the nation's phone and internet companies.
On paper the governments case is iron clad but if it can be shown the government and congress overstepped the mark by breaching the constitution then the whole house of cards could tumble and with it some of the biggest telecommunications operators, there is certainly a lot at stake here.
