Surveillance Law Upheld While Lawsuits Allowed to Proceed
The U.S. government’s decision to shield telecommunications companies from lawsuits alleging an anti-terrorism surveillance program violated consumers’ privacy rights was upheld by a federal appeals court.
The U.S. Court of Appeals in San Francisco ruled today that an amendment to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, or FISA, granting immunity from lawsuits to AT&T Inc. (T) and other companies doesn’t violate constitutional due process rights of citizens who sued carriers whom they alleged assisted the government in illegal wiretapping.
While they can’t sue telephone companies, phone customers can proceed with lawsuits against the government over the warrantless surveillance program, the court said, reversing a federal judge who dismissed lawsuits challenging what the plaintiffs allege is a “communications dragnet of ordinary American citizens.” The lower-court judge had ruled that the alleged spying wasn’t shown to be sufficiently linked to the plaintiffs.
The appeals court disagreed, ruling that the phone customers’ “allegations are highly specific and lay out concrete harms arising from the warrantless searches.”
Billions of Dollars
More than 40 lawsuits seeking billions of dollars in damages were filed in 2006 against phone companies alleging they helped the government wiretap suspected terrorists without court approval. Congress passed a measure in 2008 granting phone companies immunity from the lawsuits if the U.S. Attorney General certified that they assisted the government pursuant to a special court order or other criteria.
Other lawsuits by telephone customers targeted the government rather than the telecommunications companies. The appeals court sent those cases back to district court with instructions to consider whether they are barred because they could reveal “state secrets” and damage national security.
The first case is Hepting v. AT&T, 07-17132, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit (San Francisco). The second case is Jewel v. National Security Agency, 10-15616, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.
To contact the reporter on this story: Karen Gullo in San Francisco at kgullo@bloomberg.net.
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Michael Hytha at mhytha@bloomberg.net
Rate this Page