warrantless wiretapping

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House Rejects Immunity for Telecoms Again

Lawmakers OK surveillance bill, brush off threat of Bush veto

(Newser) - The House again spurned President Bush today, passing a version of an anti-terrorism surveillance bill that does not grant retroactive immunity to the telecom companies that participated in the government's warrantless-wiretapping program. The vote was 213-197, far less than the two-thirds majority needed to override a promised presidential veto, Reuters...

Stalling Spy Bill Hurts Intel, Admin Asserts

Letter pushes House Dems to pass new wiretapping rules

(Newser) - As House Dems refuse to pass the Senate’s wiretapping bill, the administration is heaping more pressure on them to change their minds, reports Muckraker. A letter to the House intelligence committee from top administration officials claims that the failure to pass the bill is causing “lost intelligence information”...

Supreme Court Won't Hear Wiretapping Case

Panel dismisses ACLU's legal challenge with one-line order

(Newser) - The Supreme Court has dismissed the ACLU's legal challenge of President Bush's warrantless wiretapping program, reports the Los Angeles Times. The ACLU had said that by issuing a secret order that allowed wiretapping without abiding by a 1978 law, the president was directly disobeying US law. The court today issued...

Senate Yields to White House on Eavesdropping
Senate Yields to White House on Eavesdropping
UPDATED
Feb 12, 2008 6:41 PM CST

Senate Yields to White House on Eavesdropping

Agrees to widen powers, give phone companies immunity

(Newser) - The Senate passed a bill today to expand the government's wiretapping powers and to grant immunity to phone companies that aided the government in post-9/11 investigations, the Washington Post reports. That translates into a big victory for the White House, notes the New York Times. The bill now goes to...

FBI Wiretaps Hung Up by Late Phone Bills

Bureau admits its accounting system is inadequate

(Newser) - You’re not alone: The FBI apparently has trouble paying its bills on time, too. A Justice Department audit released today shows that, in general, the FBI handled money earmarked for use in undercover operations poorly, and cited instances in which a phone line used to deliver surveillance information to...

McGovern: Oust Bush, Cheney
McGovern: Oust Bush, Cheney
OPINION
Jan 6, 2008 1:07 PM CST

McGovern: Oust Bush, Cheney

Former Dem. nominee rails against duo's 'high crimes and misdemeanors'

(Newser) - Now is the time to impeach President Bush and Vice President Cheney, declares former Democratic nominee George McGovern in a passionate, if quixotic, plea in the Washington Post. The duo have committed a plethora of "high crimes and misdemeanors," says McGovern, including illegal wiretapping, systematic torture, and substantial...

Democrats Withdraw Spy Bill
Democrats Withdraw Spy Bill
Dec 18, 2007 3:20 AM CST

Democrats Withdraw Spy Bill

Delay vote that would give phone companies immunity in spy scandal

(Newser) - Legislation that would have granted retroactive immunity for phone companies that cooperated in the National Security Agency's warrantless surveillance program was abruptly withdrawn by Senate majority leader Harry Reid late yesterday. The legislation, favored by the White House, had deeply divided Democrats. Reid said the Senate would deal with the...

Court Sides With Bush on Wiretapping

Judges cite national security in rejecting challenge to program

(Newser) - The Bush administration's warrantless wiretapping program cleared a big legal hurdle today when a federal appeals court rejected a lawsuit challenging the program on the grounds of national security. The court, considered one of the most liberal in the country,  cited the "state secrets" privilege in its ruling...

Congress Torn on Telecom Immunity
Congress Torn on Telecom Immunity
Nov 16, 2007 7:48 AM CST

Congress Torn on Telecom Immunity

Senate panel sidesteps; House passes bill without it

(Newser) - Congress is conflicted over proposed immunity laws that would retroactively protect telecoms from suits alleging they illegally handed the government information on calls. The Senate Intelligence Committee endorsed immunity 13-2 last month, but the Judiciary Committee left the immunity section out of the document it approved yesterday. The House passed...

AG Mukasey Sics Justice Probers on Wiretap Program

Surprise investigation signals new independence from White house

(Newser) - New Attorney General Michael Mukasey has named the Justice Department 's first investigative target: the Justice Department. Mukasey has reopened an internal probe of the role played by the agency's own attorneys in the controversial post-911warrantless wiretap program, reports the Wall Street Journal. The move is a key signal that...

Gonzales Could Face Charges
Gonzales Could Face Charges
Oct 26, 2007 7:08 PM CDT

Gonzales Could Face Charges

DOJ report may recommend criminal prosecution for former AG

(Newser) - Alberto Gonzales might soon find himself on an unlikely side of the law if a pending DOJ report recommends criminal charges against the former AG for lying under oath. Pending prosecution may even explain Gonzales' unexpected departure, Slate’s Dahlia Lithwick speculates. Now he’s hired a criminal-defense attorney and...

Senate Brokers Truce With Bush on Domestic Spying

Includes immunity for phone companies

(Newser) - Senate Democrats and Republicans have brokered a deal on legislation regarding the White House domestic spying and wiretapping program—including a highly controversial grant of immunity to telecommunication companies that co-operated with warrantless wiretaps. The deal marks a victory for the White House because Democrats had to kill a House...

Secret Evidence Isn't Just for Gitmo Anymore

Slate 's Lithwick says combatant turn is trouble for us all

(Newser) - The Department of Justice's stated reason for a major evidence no-show is that it can’t “be reasonably recompiled," Slate’s Dahlia Lithwick writes, a potentially dangerous precedent. Justice is thinking about redoing some military tribunals rather than present “not readily available” evidence used to brand enemy...

Clinton Foes to Hype '92 Phone Tap
Clinton Foes
to Hype '92 Phone Tap
Oct 16, 2007 4:05 PM CDT

Clinton Foes to Hype '92 Phone Tap

Hillary said to have listened in on talk of Bill mistress

(Newser) - GOP rivals have found their latest Clinton attack material, a report the Dem frontrunner listened to an illegal tape of a cellphone conversation in 1992—and they're asking how that squares with her stance on government surveillance. A book released in June alleges Hillary heard opponents discussing a Bill mistress,...

Ex-Qwest CEO Claims Spy Effort Began Before 9/11

Says NSA sought phone records months earlier

(Newser) - Joseph Nacchio, the former CEO of Qwest Communications, claims that the National Security Agency asked his company in February, 2001, to participate in a potentially illegal surveillance program—and when he declined, punished the company by dropping a contract worth hundreds of millions of dollars, reports the Washington Post. The...

Dems Will Cave on Wiretaps
Dems Will Cave on Wiretaps
Oct 9, 2007 7:00 AM CDT

Dems Will Cave on Wiretaps

Despite earlier opposition, pols fear being labeled soft on terrorism

(Newser) - Despite having vowed to rein in the administration on wiretapping without warrants, congressional Democrats are preparing to approve bills which would maintain for several years the surveillance authority legalized this summer by the Protect America Act, the New York Times reports. Dems fear that opposing the legislation will label them...

Columbia Prez Lays Into Ahmadinejad
Columbia Prez Lays Into Ahmadinejad
Sep 24, 2007 3:10 PM CDT

Columbia Prez Lays Into Ahmadinejad

Head of state answers ‘unfriendly’ intro with contentious talk

(Newser) - Mahmoud Ahmadinejad appeared today at Columbia University, where the school’s president called the Iranian president “a petty and cruel dictator” and excoriated him for his human rights rap sheet, Holocaust denial—which Lee Bollinger called "simply ridiculous"—and nuclear ambitions. The visitor smiled as Bollinger spoke,...

Bush Presses Congress for Snooping Law

Says current law should be expanded and made permanent

(Newser) - Bush pressed lawmakers for extra snooping rights today, the AP reports. Yet many Dems already regret the current law, which allows Feds to spy on some Americans without a warrant. One senator says that "the law did provide authority for collection, but it did not include sufficient protections for...

Mukasey Faces Senate Hurdle
Mukasey Faces Senate Hurdle
Sep 18, 2007 4:10 AM CDT

Mukasey Faces Senate Hurdle

Judiciary Committee is demanding White House documents

(Newser) - The confirmation of former federal judge Michael Mukasey as attorney general may not be the slam dunk the White House expects it to be. Senate Democrats have warned that the Judiciary Committee will delay confirmation unless the administration turns over documents the panel is seeking in several investigations, reports the...

FBI Data Requests Go Beyond Terror Suspects

Companies asked to turn over info on 'community of interest'

(Newser) - US terror suspects are drawing friends and colleagues into the net, the New York Times reports. FBI docs show that probes have sought info on people who suspects call or email the most. Phone companies already keep such data on hand for marketing and fraud protection, one expert says. Such...

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