Ask Senators Feinstein and Reid to make sure that the public is allowed to see the lobbying history of the telecom industry on the Director of National Intelligence and on legislators before any kind of telecom immunity bill is passed.
Emptywheel
http://thenexthurrah.typepad.com/...
pointed me to Wired
http://blog.wired.com/...
The Director of National Intelligence must quickly release documents relating to 2007 meetings with telecoms concerning proposed amnesty bills for companies that helped government's secret domestic spying program, a federal judge ruled Wednesday. The Northern California District Court judge ruled that the government must produce the documents by December 10 so that the public can be informed about the extent of telecom lobbying before Congress votes on immunity.
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Judge Susan Illston issued the order (.pdf) prior to a planned hearing Friday, writing that:
Congress is currently considering legislation that would amend the [Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act] further. Plaintiff seeks information from defendant specifically so that plaintiff, Congress, and the public may participate in the debate over the pending legislation on an informed basis. Accordingly, the Court finds that plaintiff has shown the likelihood of irreparable injury.
The Electronic Freedom Foundation is the plaintiff.
http://www.eff.org/...
Emptywheel comments on my favorite blog:
Now, frankly, we may not get those documents before the final debate on this bill. Reid originally had the Senate debate scheduled for Tuesday; it has been rescheduled, but the new date has not been announced (and in any case, it sounds like it'll be in the next week or so, so almost certainly before the 10th). That's rather troubling, because it seems that McConnell was stalling the production of these documents precisely for this purpose: he originally said he could have the initial release on November 30. But somehow, it has taken another court hearing to reinforce even that deadline. And originally, McConnell wanted to hand over the documents on December 30--which was almost certain to be after the passage of the bill.
Also note--it's not just the telecom lobbyists that McConnell has to release. It's also his meetings with Congress. You know, the big long luncheon with DiFi?
So what do you think McConnell is trying to hide?
http://thenexthurrah.typepad.com/...
Write to DiFi and to Reid and ask that they follow the judge's order-- let them know we are watching and we want to be informed about lobbying efforts -- we're serious!