Above the Law: Court Throws Out Warrantless Wiretap Suit -- News from Antiwar.com: Feds Can't Be Sued for Illegally Spying on Americans
by Jason Ditz, August 07, 2012
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The US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit has thrown out the only lawsuit ever likely to advance on the federal government’s warrantless wiretapping, declaring in their ruling that the executive branch is above the law in this case.
The lawsuit centered on illegally intercepting lawyers’ telephone calls without judicial approval, and while the court didn’t dispute the previous ruling that the surveillance was against the law, they insisted that no damages could be paid to the plaintiffs.
The ruling says that since Congress never explicitly allowed the government to be sued for damages in this case, no such damages could ever be awarded and that the executive branch has “sovereign immunity” from being sued even for breaking the law.
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