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June 4, 2009

Judge Dismisses Spying Suits Against Telecom Companies
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A federal judge has dismissed more than three dozen lawsuits against
telecommunications corporations that aided the Bush administration’s
warrantless spying. On Wednesday, Northern California US District Judge
Vaughn Walker ruled the companies, including Verizon and AT&T, are
protected under the retroactive immunity granted in last year’s
Democratic-backed surveillance act. The Electronic Frontier Foundation
and the American Civil Liberties Union say they plan to appeal on the
grounds the retroactive immunity is unconstitutional. In a related
ruling, Judge Walker rejected Obama administration efforts to dismiss a
case from a defunct Oregon-based Islamic charity that says it was the
target of illegal spying.



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