A "compromise" of sorts is emerging on updating the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. According to reports, House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer and GOP Senator Kit Bond have spearheaded an effort to cave-in to Bush Administration demands for authorization to wiretap Americans without a warrant, and to immunize telecom companies who broke the law by spying on their customers. According to Glenn Greenwald:

It's vital to note what the Federal Judge presiding over the telecom lawsuits -- Bush-41-appointee Vaughn Walker -- wrote about the allegations made against these telecoms when he refused to dismiss the lawsuits against them....

As Judge Walker ruled, the alleged actions by the telecoms "violate the constitutional rights clearly established" by prior Supreme Court rulings and "no reasonable entity in [the telecoms'] position could have believed [the spying program] was legal." Beyond that, the telecoms -- by allowing the Bush administration to spy on their customers with no warrants -- knowingly violated at least four separate federal statutes (.pdf).

Despite that, Steny Hoyer and other House Democrats are about to block the court from ever ruling on those issues and, instead, hand the telecoms something that no ordinary citizen would ever receive: namely, complete immunity without their ever having to answer for their conduct in a court of law. It is corruption in its most extreme and transparent form.

A campaign is underway to target Democratic leadership who cave on protecting our Constitution and upholding the rule of law with issue ads exposing their perfidy. The ACLU and the Electronic Frontier Foundation held a joint press conference this afternoon, condemning the proposed compromise. ACLU of Illinois Legal Director Harvey Grossman spoke about the experiences of one of our clients, Studs Terkel. Podcast available for download here.

The National ACLU is calling on folks to send a free fax to their legislators, urging them to vote against any false compromise which will end in immunity for telecom companies, or warrantless spying on Americans.