The Difference In Priorities

Ted Kennedy:

The President has said that American lives will be sacrificed if Congress does not change FISA. But he has also said that he will veto any FISA bill that does not grant retro-active immunity. No immunity, no FISA bill. So if we take the President at his word, he's willing to let Americans die to protect the phone companies.

John Cornyn (shorter):

Those FISA requests sure do require a lot of paperwork.

By the way, here are some facts about telecom immunity.

Myth: The bill’s provision is necessary to extend immunity to telephone companies that responded in good faith to a government request.

Reality: Existing law already immunizes telephone companies that respond in good faith to a government request, as long as that request meets certain clearly spelled-out statutory requirements. This carefully designed provision protects the companies and Americans’ privacy by encouraging the companies to comply with legitimate requests but not to comply with requests that don’t meet the requirements laid out in the law.

Myth: Telephone companies should not be expected to know whether the government’s request for assistance was lawful.

Reality: Telephone companies have a long history of receiving requests for assistance from the government. In the 1970s, they worked with Congress to devise a law that tells them exactly which government requests they should honor, in terms that are clear and easy to follow. And they have lawyers who are well-paid to compare government requests with the requirements of the law.

Myth: If we don’t pass retroactive immunity, the government will lose companies’ cooperation in the future.

Reality: The immunity provision in current law gives telephone companies an ironclad defense if they received a government certification that meets certain clear requirements. It holds companies liable for complying with non-compliant government requests precisely because we don’t want the companies to cooperate with illegal government programs. Preventing that kind of cooperation, and protecting Americans from illegitimate government snooping, is one of the main reasons FISA was passed.

Myth: The telephone companies will not be able to defend themselves because the government has invoked the state secrets privilege.

Reality: There is no precedent to suggest that a court would rule against a defendant when there is privileged evidence that could possibly exonerate that defendant. That simply is not how courts handle such cases. But even if that were a risk, the state secrets problem should be addressed directly, in a manner that is fair to both parties.

There are more at the link.

UPDATE: Dodd could stretch this out for a week, and at some point Reid will have to decide whether or not it's worth it to give up the rest of his end-of-the-year agenda just to give telecom companies a free pass.

John Cornyn just lied about a 10-hour delay in trying to find 3 American soldiers in Iraq, a lie that's been totally debunked, and he's trying to scare Senators into believing that the Justice Department's own bungling in filing the proper warrant information killed American citizens. That was contemptible.