"Sovereign immunity": a bad sign from the DOJ

drinkwater

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Tuesday April 07, 2009 · 1:33 PM PDT

2009/04/07 · 13:33

On April 3, the Department of Justice filed a motion to dismiss Jewel vs. NSA, in which the Electronic Frontiers Foundation (EFF) is suing the NSA on the behalf of AT&T customers in an attempt to bring an end to illegal surveillance. One of the given reasons for dismissal is a "sovereign immunity" claim which asserts the immunity of the government from lawsuits even when it has clearly broken the law; a "willful disclosure" of illegal surveillance is required before a lawsuit is possible.

The EFF press release has more information.

This seems to me an eery indication that the Bush policy of preventing lawsuits on the basis of "state secrets" may continue under the Obama administration. When the FISA legislation was passed, one of the arguments in favor given at the time was that it would shield companies from lawsuits and "keep the focus over legality where it belongs -- on the government." It now looks as though we may have greater obstacles than previously thought in our effort to hold our government accountable for illegal surveillance.

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