Fear not, foes of oversight-free domestic surveillance. Even if Senate Democrats follow their House counterparts and endorse immunity for telecom companies, the battle to hold those companies accountable will not end there.
While the prospects of reining in President Bush's expanded spy powers seem to be dwindling in Congress, lawyers and activists are already gearing up for court challenges if lawmakers pass an unacceptable bill. Critics say pending civil lawsuits that the administration and Congress are trying to get rid of are the only way to shed any light on the likely illegal spying authorized by President Bush and facilitated by the nation's telecommunications firms.
Lawyers for the Electronic Frontier Foundation and American Civil Liberties Union, two groups that have been leading the charge against dismissing the lawsuits, are working on possible legal challenges for the FISA bill that is expected to pass soon. That being said, no one is ready to throw in the towel on the continuing FISA fight happening in the Senate.
"Assuming that the immunity does pass, which right now we are not assuming, we are certainly preparing for litigation against the application of immunity in our case," Kevin Bankston, a senior attorney for EFF told RAW STORY.
The Raw Story | Lawyers prepping litigation against telecom immunity
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