Judge Throws Out AT&T Spying Suit Citing National Security - 7/25/06

[AtomicKitten]

And people here want to rule out impeachment of these motherf*$#ers??!!??

In case anyone has forgotten, Bush has blocked investigating the NSA spying:
http://www.thenation.com/blogs/thebeat?pid=83135


Judge dismisses AT&T 'spying' suit
Cited nat'l security; ACLU suit aimed to block gov't from gaining phone records.
Jul 25, 4:35 PM (ET)

By MIKE ROBINSON

CHICAGO (AP) - 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.

Justice Department attorneys had argued it that would violate the law against divulging state secrets for AT&T to say whether it had provided telephone records to the supersecret spy agency.

The ACLU argued that the practice was no longer secret, because numerous news reports had made it clear that phone records had been given to the agency.

But the judge said the news reports amounted to speculation and in no way constituted official confirmation that phone records had been turned over.

He also said Terkel and the other plaintiffs in the lawsuit, which sought class-action status, had not shown that their own records had been provided to the government. As a result, they lacked standing to sue the government, he said.

http://rawstory.com/showoutarticle.php?src=http%3A%2F%2Fapnews.myway.com%2Farticle%2F20060725%2FD8J381CO1.html

[katinmn]

1. Impeachment seems the most logical option.

Bush has Congress and every department staffed with cronies.

The House and Senate can't or won't do anything to stop BushCo from running over our rights.

ITMFA!

[Sam Odom]

2. 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

[Moderator]

3. Kick