Chicago–(ENEWSPF)–September 1, 2011. The American Civil Liberties Union and the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) told a panel of the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit sitting in Seattle, Washington yesterday that Congress acted in an unconstitutional fashion when it passed legislation granting sweeping immunity to telecoms that collaborated in illegal spying. The argument is the latest development in more than thirty cases consolidated in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California that challenged the phone companies’ sharing of millions of personal phone records and communications with the federal government. The ACLU lawsuits filed on behalf of dozens of plaintiffs – including renowned Chicago journalist Studs Terkel, former California Congressman Tom Campbell, journalist Robert Scheer and actor Richard Belzer – challenge the unlawful collaboration of major telecommunications companies – including AT&T – with the government’s warrantless dragnet surveillance of electronic communications and records.
