Judge OKs domestic surveillance lawsuit

Chicago Tribune | July 21 2006

SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA -- A federal judge Thursday allowed a lawsuit over domestic surveillance by the National Security Agency to proceed despite Bush administration arguments that revealing secrets in the case will open the U.S. to attack.

The ruling by U.S. District Judge Vaughn Walker in a privacy suit against AT&T Inc. rejected the government's invocation of its powerful "state secrets" privilege to have the case dismissed.

Walker based in his decision in part on the fact that President Bush and other officials have spoken publicly about aspects of the government's clandestine efforts to track suspected terrorists by monitoring the massive voice and data networks maintained by AT&T and other phone companies.

The decision applies only to a case filed in February by the Electronic Frontier Foundation, which alleged that AT&T was violating federal privacy laws by helping the government monitor calls and e-mail messages.

Foundation attorney Cindy Cohn said she hoped Walker's order would make it more difficult for Congress to keep lawsuits out of open court.

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