Just caught this in an e-mail newsletter and thought I'd share. Haven't read through the whole ruling yet. But it might be a further to add good news day report.
Ninth Circuit lets lawsuit proceed against NSA over warrantless wiretapping
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January 4, 2012 - A civil suit against the government filed over National Security Agency warrantless wiretapping can proceed, ruled the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in a Dec. 29 opinion.
The opinion sends back to a lower federal court a lawsuit filed by Petaluma, Calif., resident Carolyn Jewel on behalf of herself and subscribers to AT&T telephone or Internet services. The U.S. District Court for Northern California dismissed in 2010 Jewel's suit on the grounds that the harm alleged was "a generalized grievance shared substantially equal measure by all or a large class of citizens."
In remanding Jewel's suit back to the district court, the Ninth Circuit disagreed. Judge M. Margaret McKeown, who wrote the opinion on behalf of a three-judge panel including herself, Harry Pregerson and Michael Hawkins, said Jewel's claims "are not abstract, generalized grievances and instead meet the constitutional standing requirement of concrete injury." read more>>>
Downloaded then upload to an online doc reader:
The Ruling: Lawsuit to Proceed over Warrantless Wiretapping
In the article it goes on to add what was already know:
The Obama administration has sought to dismiss the lawsuit on state secrets grounds and the Ninth Circuit opinion says the district court will have leave to consider that argument.
It also dismissed a related suit Hepting v. AT&T {pdf} the same day, the 29th, against the telecom. companies for their role saying Congress had provided them with 'retroactive immunity'.
There are a few other back links to pdf's of the previous lower court rulings at site.