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All NSA-Telecom Lawsuits Lead to San Francisco |
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Friday, 11 August 2006 |
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Some 25 class action lawsuits against the nation's telecoms for their alleged participation in the warrantless surveillance of American citizen's communications will all be heard by the same judge who recently refused to dismiss an anti-spying suit against AT&T over the government's objections.
That case was put on hold Tuesday until late September, pending this decision from the multi-district litigation panel in Chicago and any movement from the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals on the government's and AT&T's appeals of Chief Judge Vaughn Walker's refusal to dismiss the case on the grounds of national security. The government argues that the case must be dismissed or "state secrets" will be revealed. Walker says the government has confirmed publicly that the surveillance happens and that there's no way for that surveillance to occur without AT&T's participation. The cases were consolidated since each deals with similar issues and having one judge rule on issues such as how to conduct discovery when state secrets are involved prevents conflicting opinions. Vaughn Walker, who presides over the Northern District California District Court, is a Republican appointee with a strong libertarian streak and has a reputation for being unpredictable. The Electronic Frontier Foundation lawsuit http://www.eff.org/legal/cases/att/faq.php is known as Hepting vs. AT&T Corp. |
