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Thursday, June 19, 2008

FISA "Compromise"

CQ ($$) reports that a bill to revise the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) will likely be announced today, with a possible House vote tomorrow (June 20). Under the new measure, "a federal district court to decide whether to provide retroactive legal immunity to telecommunications companies being sued for their role in the Bush administration's warrantless surveillance program. Under the prospective deal, the secret court created by the original law would get to review, in advance, the process by which the administration chooses foreign surveillance targets who may be communicating with people in the United States. One source said the federal district court deciding on retroactive immunity would review whether there was 'substantial evidence' the companies had received assurances from the government that the administration's program was legal."

And Reuters; considers this as clearly shielding the phone companies from potentially billions of dollars in lawsuits. "The House would likely approve the measure overwhelmingly. Despite opposition from its top two Democrats, the Senate would then likely give it final approval, clearing the way for President George W. Bush to sign it into law."

Meanwhile, read this New York Times editorial titled "Mr. Bush v. the Bill of Rights."

In the waning months of his tenure, President Bush and his allies are once again trying to scare Congress into expanding the president's powers to spy on Americans without a court order. . . . What is unacceptable, though, is that the district court would be instructed to decide based solely on whether the Bush administration certifies that the companies were told the spying was legal. If the aim is to allow a court hearing on the president's spying, the lawsuits should be allowed to proceed — and the courts should be able to resolve them the way they resolve every other case.