The One With Aldacron

It looks as if the US government may have gotten more than it bargained for. A motion by the government to consolidate 17 lawsuits against warrantless wiretapping was approved, but the request to move the consolidated cases to Washington D.C. was denied. Instead, the cases were handed over to Judge Vaughn Walker of the District Court for the Northern District of California. You may have heard of him. He’s the guy who, in the Electronic Frontier Foundation’s suit against the government (another warrantless eavesdropping case) refused to accept the government’s argument that the case should be thrown out as a threat to national security.

From the article:

And why did the Panel send the cases to the Northern District,?
Well, the Panel suggests that the California case has progressed to the
most advanced stage. There’s also the fact that the California judge
has seen more confidential material since his case dealt with both
warrantless wiretaps and the release of customer data, while a similar Illinois case dealt only with the latter.

Reading the tealeaves, you could argue that the consolidation out
West also shows that the general mood among jurists in the country is
leaning towards a full airing of the secrets behind the wiretap
programs. We like to believe this explanation, if only because it
ever-so-slightly renews our faith in the system, along with our belief
in truth, justice, beauty and the rest of it.

I’m trying hard not to get my hopes up too high. Part of me wants to believe that this could be the beginning of bigger things to come. It would be nice to finally see the Bush government held accountable for their crimes. Another part of me cautions that this is just one small bright spot in the vast darkness that is the American legal system and that the big picture won’t change at all.

Technorati Tags: Vaughn Walker, warrantless wiretapping, Bush administration, AT&T