Ryan Singel and Kevin Poulsen report that the Bush administration has filed a “statement of interest” indicating that it would use the “State Secrets Privilege” to derail the Electronic Frontier Foundation’s (EFF) class action lawsuit against AT&T. The EFF’s lawsuit alleges that AT&T collaborated with the US government to institute President Bush’s warrantless wiretapping program.
The State Secrets Privilege is a series of legal precedents that allow the US government to dismiss civil legal cases that the government deems to be a threat to foreign policy, military intelligence, or national security.
The government has yet to formally invoke the privilege, nor has it admitted that AT&T helped the National Security Agency in the warrantless wiretapping program.
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