Its About Time A Judge Stood Up To Bushco

©Photo: Agence France-Presse (AFP)

Finally a judge takes his responsibilities seriously and tells Bushco they be not gods.

A federal judge denied a demand by US officials that a domestic spying lawsuit against telecom giant AT and T be thrown out in the interest of national security.

"While the court recognizes and respects the executive's constitutional duty to protect the nation from threats, the court also takes seriously its constitutional duty to adjudicate the disputes that come before it," US District Court Justice Vaughn Walker wrote in his ruling.

"To defer to a blanket assertion of secrecy would be to abdicate that duty, particularly because the very subject matter of this litigation has been so publicly aired."

Walker noted in his decision that the government and AT and T had referred publicly to the US government using electronic eavesdropping as a tool to combat terrorism after the attacks of September 2001.

The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) filed its suit against AT and T in February, charging the company with helping to spy on millions of customers by sharing telephone and email data with the US National Security Agency.

Federal lawyers urged Walker to reject the suit on the basis that it was groundless and that its hearing could threaten national security by revealing how authorities gather intelligence.

Walker said during hearings and repeated in his ruling that the state's secret privilege "is not unlimited." [emphasis mine]

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