Senator Leahy: FISA Bill Makes Courts ‘Handmaiden to a Coverup’

[WSJ_law_blog]

Despite an eleventh hour attempt by Dems to erase the telecom immunity language from the legislation that will overhaul the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, the bill breezed through the Senate today in a 69-28 vote, putting to bed the lightning rod issue.

As the WSJ reports, the bill renews the legal backing for the federal government’s warrantless surveillance program, allowing the National Security Agency to listen in to Americans’ phone calls to people abroad and read emails sent to people overseas. It would also provide effective legal immunity for the telephone companies who agreed to government requests to access their customers’ phones and emails.

The companies, such as AT&T and Verizon Commmunications, are facing dozens of civil lawsuits. Under the bill, those telecoms could have the lawsuits dismissed if they prove they received written assurance from the Bush administration that the surveillance was legal. The companies received letters providing such assurances years ago.

According to the WaPo, in the Senate today, 47 Republicans, 21 Democrats and one independent — Joe Lieberman — voted for the bill, while 27 Democrats and independent Bernard Sanders of Vermont opposed it. Senator Barack Obama supported the amendment that would have allowed lawsuits against the telecommunications companies, but he voted for the overall bill after that amendment was defeated.

Senator Hillary Clinton joined Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick J. Leahy and 25 other Democrats in voting against the bill. Leahy, a leading opponent, charged that the bill “does not provide accountability for the six years of illegal, warrantless wiretapping initiated and approved by this administration.” He said: “So the fix is in. The bill is rigged . . . to ensure that the providers get immunity and the cases get dismissed. . . . This bill makes our federal courts the handmaidens to a coverup, and that is wrong.”