'State secrets' privilege fuels surveillance bill battle

'STATE SECRETS' PRIVILEGE FUELS SURVEILLANCE BILL BATTLE
[SOURCE: The Christian Science Monitor, AUTHOR: Gail Russell Chaddock]
House Democrats are hunkering down for a long siege with President Bush over his administration's terrorist surveillance program. Democrats are aiming to rein in the White House's power to wiretap without a warrant and assert "state secrecy" in key court battles. As Congress broke for a two-week recess last Friday, President Bush warned that the latest House version of the surveillance bill would "undermine America's security." At the heart of the dispute now is whether to grant retroactive immunity to telecommunications companies now facing lawsuits over their cooperation in warrantless surveillance. Until recently, Democrats had assumed that a vote against the White House on an issue that Mr. Bush said was essential to national security could hurt freshmen Democrats in marginal districts. But at a recent House Democratic caucus meeting, several freshmen said they could explain this vote to their constituents, and cited recent polls backing that view. "We can protect civil liberties and protect the country," says freshman Rep. Paul Hodes (D) of New Hampshire. "What we did with telecoms was sound policy."
http://www.csmonitor.com/2008/0318/p02s03-usju.html