Senators Dodd, Leahy, Feingold, and Merkley are going to introduce a bill to repeal the retroactive immunity for the telecoms that was passed last July to protect the companies that went along with the Bush Administration's illegal warrantless wiretapping of the communications of millions of Americans (via DU):
Senators Chris Dodd (D-CT), Patrick Leahy (D-VT), Russ Feingold (D-WI), and Jeff Merkley (D-OR) announced today that they will introduce the Retroactive Immunity Repeal Act, which eliminates retroactive immunity for telecommunications companies that allegedly participated in President Bush’s warrantless wiretapping program...
"...by granting retroactive immunity to the telecommunications companies who may have participated in warrantless wiretapping of American citizens, the Congress violated the protection of our citizen’s privacy and due process right and we must not allow that to stand" {said Dodd}.
Senator Leahy, Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee said, "Last year, I opposed legislation that stripped Americans of their right to seek accountability for the Bush administration’s decision to illegally wiretap American citizens without a warrant. Today, I am pleased to join Senator Dodd to introduce the Retroactive Immunity Repeal Act...
"Granting retroactive immunity to companies that went along with the illegal warrantless wiretapping program was unjustified and undermined the rule of law," Feingold said. "Congress should not have short-circuited the courts’ constitutional role in assessing the legality of the program. This bill is about ensuring that the law is followed and providing accountability for the American people."
"During the previous administration, telecommunications companies were granted retroactive immunity for violating the rights and privacy of millions of Americans," said Merkley. "I am proud to join Senator Dodd and co-sponsor the Retroactive Immunity Repeal Act to help restore accountability and increase oversight to protect the privacy rights that have been central to our nation since its inception."...
This bill seeks to reverse the mistake of the last Congress and repeal the retroactive immunity provisions. The Senators strongly believe that the courts, and neither Congress nor the Administration, should be the ones to determine whether these corporations violated the law and rights of Americans and whether or not they should be held accountable.
Good for them.
Glenn Greenwald's summary of last year's vote to bury the NSA spy scandal is here.
Considering 17 Democrats actually voted with all the Republicans last year to defeat Dodd's amendment to strip retroactive immunity out of the FISA Amendments Act, and most of them are still around to wreak their particular variety of bipartisan havoc, I don't expect much to come of this new initiative, but you never know.
These were the infamous 17, BTW (link):
Bayh, Carper, Conrad, Feinstein, Inouye, Johnson, Kohl, Landrieu, Lincoln, McCaskill, Mikulski, Nelson, Nelson, Pryor, Rockefeller, Salazar, Webb