AP: Judge Dismisses Phone Records Lawsuit

[Eugene]

Judge Dismisses Phone Records Lawsuit

By MIKE ROBINSON
Associated Press Writer

July 25, 2006, 4:35 PM EDT

CHICAGO -- Citing national security, a federal judge Tuesday threw out a lawsuit aimed
at blocking AT&T from giving telephone records to the government for use in the war
on terror.

"The court is persuaded that requiring AT&T to confirm or deny whether it has disclosed
large quantities of telephone records to the federal government could give adversaries
of this country valuable insight into the government's intelligence activities," U.S.
District Judge Matthew F. Kennelly said.

Kennelly ruled in a lawsuit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union of Illinois
on behalf of author Studs Terkel and other activists who said their constitutional rights
were violated because of a National Security Agency program of gathering phone company
records.

<snip>

Full article: http://www.newsday.com/news/nationworld/nation/wire/sns-ap-phone-records-lawsuit,0,843262.story

[TomInTib]

1. You had to expect this.

No way DoJ was going to let this go forward.

[On the Road]

7. Frankly, I AM a Little Shocked

It should be an open and shut matter to at least hear the case. And I would expect even a conservative judge to make the same ruling. The judiciary is not there for partisan protection.

[TomInTib]

8. The judiciary IS there for partisan protection.

Remember, this is the bush Administration.

And I am pissed about this.

You are completely right. But Justice is not only blind, she has been cut off at the knees.

[Joanne98]

2. when we impeach Bush, we impeach ALL his judges too.

[cosmicdot]

17. sadly, looks like Kennelly was appointed by Bill Clinton

but, keep him on the list for treason
``````````````````````````````````````

Kennelly, Matthew F.
Born 1956 in Marion, IN

Federal Judicial Service:
Judge, U. S. District Court, Northern District of Illinois

--> Nominated by William J. Clinton on January 26, 1999, to a seat vacated by Paul E. Plunkett;

Confirmed by the Senate on April 15, 1999, and received commission on April 22, 1999.

Education:
University of Notre Dame, B.A., 1978

Harvard Law School, J.D., 1981

Professional Career:
Private practice, Chicago, IL, 1981-1982
Law clerk, Hon. Prentice Marshall, U.S. District Court, Northern District of Illinois, 1982-1984
Private practice, Chicago, IL, 1984-1999

Race or Ethnicity: White

Gender: Male

http://www.fjc.gov/servlet/tGetInfo?jid=2821

[caligirl]

35. But I believe in the other case here in San Francisco, the judge was

appointed by Bush's father. Interesting twist.

[babylonsister]

3. Catch-22, anyone? nt

[TheMirrorMan]

22. yep

You can't hear a case based purely on speculation.

Unfortunately, the citation draws attention away from the real reason the case was dismissed.

Maybe I'm a little too hell-bent on national security, but it's not my opinion either that just because there are rumors of a records transfer, that an actual transfer took place.

One could easily start rumors that the NSA has operatives in Hezbollah and Al-Qaeda that have actively sabotaged American interests in order to gain credibility.

[MissWaverly]

4. another set back for the democracy of the United States

this is why we need to throw out the Republican majority in the US Congress, the right to
privacy is guaranteed in the US Constitution. They are guilty of dereliction of duty; it's
that simple.

[Sherman A1]

21. Agreed

They are indeed guilty of dereliction and I believe many, many more violations of the Constitution.

[drone]

30. are they winning

as I recall - back about 911. we were told that people were trying to take away our freedom and suppress our way of like. We were told to go on about our lives and not let them bring us down and cause us to live in fear.

My question is are they winning? are they taking away our freedom as they planned? More important is, will we ever return to pre 911?

[sinkingfeeling]

5. Hopefully, the ACLU will appeal.

[lonestarnot]

6. Appeal for the record.

Remember they control SCOTUS.

[lala_rawraw]

9. wow, looks like the coup is complete

[Roland99]

10. What a LAME statement from that judge. Must be a Dittohead

[Canuckistanian]

11. He sounds exactly like Sean Hannity

It's almost like they both get their talking points from the same place... doesn't it?

[onenote]

27. he's a Clinton appointee with a fairly liberal record

He's been criticized for, among other things, finding that an Illinois law regulating video games violated the First Amendment.

[Roland99]

29. Doesn't change the ridiculous talking point rhetoric of a decision.

[bleever]

12. With the program unconfirmed, terrorists will gab away on the phones.

Right?

My disgust at this decision is beyond words.

[robinlynne]

15. Yes, that is some b...shit!

[godai]

19. Exactly...The assumption will be that the records were given.

How can a judge get away with this? I presume there will be an appeal, citing the illogical reason for the dismissal.

[godai]

20. As time goes by, I'm less and less impressed by the Clintons

Certainly better than the shrub family but not the saviors of democracy.

[rodeodance]

13. Kennelly's ruling was in sharp contrast to last week's decision------

Judge dismisses phone records lawsuit

By MIKE ROBINSON, Associated Press Writer 1 hour, 38 minutes ago

CHICAGO - Citing national security, a federal judge Tuesday threw out a lawsuit aimed at blocking AT&T Inc. from giving telephone records to the government for use in the war on terror.
ADVERTISEMENT


"The court is persuaded that requiring AT&T to confirm or deny whether it has disclosed large quantities of telephone records to the federal government could give adversaries of this country valuable insight into the government's intelligence activities," U.S. District Judge Matthew F. Kennelly said.

A number of such lawsuits have been filed around the country in the wake of news media reports that AT&T and other phone companies had turned records over to the National Security Administration, which specializes in communications intercepts.

Kennelly's ruling was in sharp contrast to last week's decision from U.S. District Judge Vaughn Walker of San Francisco, who said media reports of the program were so widespread there was no danger of spilling secrets.

Kennelly ruled in a lawsuit filed by the
American Civil Liberties Union of Illinois on behalf of author Studs Terkel and other activists who said their constitutional rights were violated because of an NSA program of gathering phone company records.

[rodeodance]

14. I had a week of hope--now that is gone.

[KoKo]

36. But, the lawsuit can still go on in San Francisco. And, article says

there are others in progress. I don't know how a dispute like this is handled when a judge in one state says lawsuit can go ahead and judge in another state says no...but it might depend on what the lawsuit stated that was different in each state.

I wouldn't give up hope yet...

[Sam Odom]

16. Chicago Council of Lawyers

In May 1998 the Council issued a report to Senator Carol Moseley-Braun and Senator Richard Durbin which included our evaluation reports of the three candidates chosen by the Senators' merit selection panel to be the finalist for selection as the next federal district court judge in the Northern District. Hon. William J. Hibbler and Matthew F. Kennelly were recommended by the Senators to the President for two vacancies on the District Court for the Northern District. The following are the Council's evaluations of Judge William J. Hibbler and Matthew F. Kennelly.



Matthew F. Kennelly -- Qualified

Matthew F. Kennelly, 41, is a 1981 graduate of the Harvard Law School. Following law school Mr. Kennelly served briefly as an associate at Latham & Watkins doing civil commercial litigation. He then served for two years as a Law Clerk to U.S. District Judge Prentice H. Marshall. From 1984 to the present, Mr. Kennelly has practiced with Cotsirilos, Stephenson, Tighe & Streiker, Ltd., where he specializes in criminal and commercial civil litigation. He is active in many civic activities, including the Lawyers' Committee for Better Housing where he served as president of the board of directors for eight years. He has received numerous awards for his pro bono participation in the defense of Rolando Cruz.

Mr. Kennelly has handled a wide variety of complex civil and criminal cases as a practitioner. As we found in our 1997 evaluation, he is uniformly considered to have an exceptional intellect and received high marks from everyone we interviewed for his legal ability on

complex matters, his trial skills, and his judgment. He also has strong legal writing skills, which further demonstrate his legal writing and scholarship. His adversaries consistently praise him for his professionalism. His integrity, intelligence, and fairness are unquestioned. He is considered to be exceptionally hard-working.

We also have received numerous comments about the maturity and poise that Mr. Kennelly exhibits during even complex litigation matters. During his evaluation interview, we were particularly impressed with the thoughtfulness of his answers on a variety of subjects relating to the role and responsibilities of a federal district judge.

His devotion to public interest matters is admirable and, in general, is considered to be an excellent practitioner. He has the experiences and ability to be an outstanding U.S. District Judge. We find him qualified.

http://www.chicagocouncil.org/ccl/index.htm

[NJCher]

23. so the question then becomes

Who got to Kennelly?




Cher

[KoKo]

37. true....he could have a skeleton or two in his closet. Maybe a phone call

to someone ...maybe a mistress... With all the spying going on...it could be likely. Or, maybe the suit that was brought wasn't worded well enough and they can appeal it...since the California Judge allowed a suit against ATT to stand saying it didn't interfere with National Security because everyone now knew what the NSA was doing. :shrug: So one suit goes down and one suit is in progress. And, article says there are more ....so maybe this isn't a defeat..yet...yet..

[tritsofme]

18. Surprised to see this a Clinton appointee

I went to wikipedia expecting him to be a Reagan/Bush guy...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matthew_F._Kennelly

[acmavm]

24. Why do people here think BC was this great liberal president?

He was pro-business, anti-little guy, just not to the extent that this bunch of lying thieves are. Bill was a good talker. Except for that little difference of opinion on what 'having sex' means.

Where did this legend of Saint Bill come from? He was definitely better than we have now. But he gave us NAFTA among otner things.

He was in the White House at a good time. The dot-com bubble and the strong stock market were going strong during most of his years in office. The scandals of the crooked corporate CEOs just hadn't broken out into the news, but they were looting and stealing all the same. It was just not common knowledge yet. He was a lucky man to be in the White House when he was.

Don't get me wrong, I voted for him twice.

[drone]

28. Best president Bill

He was the best president I have known.

The nation was fortunate to have him.

His "having sex" was never confirmed or observed by 2 or 3 eye witnesses. Besides what is the interpretation of sex? I am sure everyone has a different definition.

The repukey republican were the reason he was unable to do more.

I don't think we will see the good times of the 90s again.

Folks should have invested in gas and oil.

[TheMadMonk]

32. Cynical I might be, but,,,

...I have a strong suspiscion that at least some of the deafening silence on certain matters, coming from the "good" side of the floor, is because your bunch of rascals is looking covetously at a whole bagfull of dirty tricks, that those "other
rascals can't scream about (or even dare acknowledge the existence of) that will fall into their laps come November.

As matters and public opinion currently stand, "fixing" the upcoming elections is virtually impossibly without making it obvious that the results were manipulated. I suspect that at least some in the Democrats are of the belief that the Repupblicans will quietly back down and give over their tool, rather than put their own heads on the block by revealing (confirming) the truth to the public at large.


The election fraud issue could have been used as a rod with which to beat the Republicans to a bloody pulp almost from the very get go, and yet the Demopcratic leadership refused to go there. For that mattter, the leadership has virtually refused to go anywhere substantiative. Their wholes strategy seems to be along the lines of waiting for the Republican Party to self destruct so comprehensively that short of biting the heads of babies in public, they'll come up smelling of roses no matter what cesspits they choose to swim in.


It would be very nice to be totally wrong on this. Unfortunately, I'm afraid that I'm, at least a little, right.

If, as many believe, the ineptness of magnitude shown by the current administration beggars belief, except as a cover for some deeper plan, then an equivalent degree of political ineptness in failing to take advantage of (or even acknowledge) the original ineptitude, is just as belief beggaring and suspect.

[longship]

25. They are all FUCKING INSANE.

Haven't they heard of the God damned Bill of Rights?

I am so sick and so fucking pissed.

When is this insanity going to end?

[PghTiny]

26. National security is just code words for ...

state-sponsored rape, torture, and murder. Witness 1973 Chile, Abu Gharib, and Gitmo.

[gunsaximbo]

31. NOW I KNOW WHY BUSH WAS IN CHICAGO

AND DINING WITH DALEY ON HIS BIRTHDAY. WHETHER YOU BELIEVE IT OR NOT, A DEAL WAS STRUCK AND THIS TOPIC WAS THE DEAL.

IF YOU DON'T BELIEVE ME THEN YOU'RE NAIVE.

GUNSAXIMBO

[Bretttido]

33. What a jackass

Judges are supposed to interpret laws, not speculate on national security threats!

[spanone]

34. Thank God we don't have any activist judges. Goodbye America!

[MAX 1]

38. ??? WHAT IS IT CALLED ???

What is it called:
~ A country that allows trials without FAIR representation for assumed criminals. Where the Government is the plaintiff and the defendant is barred from even hearing the evidence brought before the judge by the Government against him ???
~ A country that allows trials without FAIR representation from the plaintiff when the Government is the defendant and is arguing their defense and the plaintiff is not allowed to participate in the process, barred from hearing the defendants evidence and barred from the specifics of the ruling?

A M E R I C A
Where JUSTICE is now officially turned inside out, on her head, blindfold removed so as to see impartiality and the scales always weighted in favor of the Government.

P N A C
Where engineered 9/11 events catapult their agenda of global hegemony. And this means against their own people too. Even Bush echoed the words of Goebbels, "His primary rules were: never allow the public to cool off; never admit a fault or wrong; never concede that there may be some good in your enemy; never leave room for alternatives; never accept blame; concentrate on one enemy at a time and blame him for everything that goes wrong; people will believe a big lie sooner than a little one; and if you repeat it frequently enough people will sooner or later believe it."

[Nestor Mahkno]

39. I'm stumped by this, but not too much

Of course Clinton appointed Janet Reno too and look what she did to him.

[gunsaximbo]

40. That's a very good point...

I think Clinton was a great President, but he was not good at finding competent, loyal people to work for him. He went through a lot of people in his 8 years.

Guns