Bush administration faces new challenges to spying powers

A federal judge who earlier rejected Bush administration claims that it was exempt from laws governing domestic surveillance was asked Tuesday to strike down an act of Congress that grants retroactive immunity for illegal wiretapping. Congress enacted the FISA Amendments Act to shield the telecom companies from the lawsuits. But in a class action against AT&T, the Electronic Frontier Foundation asked US District Judge Vaughn Walker to rule the FISA Amendments Act unconstitutional, saying that it violated individual privacy rights and granted excessive latitude for the attorney general to decide the legal responsibility of carriers that gave data to the NSA. Justice Department lawyers reminded Judge Walker that the congressional action was intended to shield the telecom carriers from liability for complying with government orders, and urged the judge to dismiss both challenges. The ACLU action alleging that President Bush overstepped his powers was dismissed by the Supreme Court in February, when the justices said that the rights group had failed to prove actual privacy violations.