Hoyer Hands Away Telecom Immunity

by Steve Soto

I guess it all comes down to what "substantial evidence" means.

House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer completed the sell-out today when he finalized a deal to give the telecoms limited immunity for past illegal surveillance of American citizens. I'm sure the telecoms who have been funding him all these years are happy.

And what bar do the telecoms have to jump over to shed the lawsuits filed against them? According to the Wall Street Journal:

Critical to sealing the deal was a compromise that would grant conditional immunity to telecommunications companies for assistance they provided from September 2001 through January 2007. If the companies can show a federal district court judge "substantial evidence" they received a written request from the attorney general or head of an intelligence agency stating the president authorized the surveillance and determined it to be lawful, the cases against them will be dismissed.

Since a lot of these district courts are populated with Bush Administration hacks confirmed by Senate Democrats, and since a valid directive could be defined as a national security letter signed by the abuseful FBI or discredited Bush Administration appointees, does it really matter?

All Hoyer cared about was carrying water for the telecoms and taking their cash. He and Pelosi now let them off the hook by allowing them to show a Bush-appointed judge that they got a letter signed by Alberto Gonzales assuring them that Bush says its legal. And since this Congress doesn't have the balls to sue Bush themselves for breaking the law, this matter will be buried once and for all when Bush signs the bill.

House and Senate Democrats, especially Jane Harman, Pelosi, Harry Reid, and Jay Rockefeller knew this was going on for years, and looked the other way.