State secrets privilege slams door on civil suits

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State secrets privilege slams door on civil suits

By Andrew Zajac
Washington Bureau
Published May 24, 2006


WASHINGTON -- A suit filed this week in Chicago by author Studs Terkel and others accusing AT&T of invading its customers' privacy by sharing phone records with the National Security Agency could provide the next test of whether the Bush administration employs a once-rare tactic that essentially gives the government a blank check to kill civil suits.

Earlier this month, Justice Department lawyers intervened in an invasion-of-privacy suit in San Francisco against AT&T and asserted what is known as the state secrets privilege by asking a judge to dismiss the case because they said allowing it to go forward would compromise national security.

The government has repeatedly invoked the state secrets privilege to head off challenges to two of the most sensitive aspects of the administration's war on terror--domestic electronic surveillance and so-called extraordinary renditions. In the latter instance, suspected terrorists are secretly picked up overseas and sent to foreign countries for interrogations under harsh conditions.

All told, the administration has asserted the privilege at least six times since 2001.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/technology/chi-0605240153may24,1,5727847.story?coll=chi-news-hed&ctrack=1&cset=true
http://thinkprogress.org/2006/05/24/state-secrets-privilege/

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1. Everyday Our Rights Errode in Favor of the Greedy

and crooked.