Secrets Claims In NSA Case May Stop Suits

SECRETS CLAIMS IN NSA CASE MAY STOP SUITS
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, AUTHOR: Dionne Searcey dionne.searcey@wsj.com]
As lawsuits mount against phone companies from plaintiffs who allege their call records were handed over to the National Security Agency illegally, the companies' defense may benefit from a powerful force: the U.S. government. The plaintiffs, who accuse Bell phone companies of privacy violations and are seeking billions of dollars in damages, would need to delve into the depths of the NSA's surveillance program to make their cases. But the government considers such information top secret, and legal experts expect the Bush administration to assert the "state secrets" privilege in the 20 or more lawsuits filed by privacy advocates in recent weeks. If judges accept the claim, as has been the case in nearly every instance in which it has been asserted since the early 1950s, the suits will dissolve. Senate Judiciary Committee leaders met yesterday to consider issuing subpoenas to the chief executives of AT&T, BellSouth, Verizon and Qwest Communications International for a hearing that would examine the NSA issue. No decision was made, a committee aide said, but the senators plan to meet again June 6. Earlier this week Federal Communications Commission Chairman Kevin Martin, citing the government's invocation of the state's secret privilege in the AT&T suit, said the agency wouldn't investigate allegations of privacy violations by the phone companies.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB114860694163363837.html?mod=todays_us_marketplace
(requires subscription)