FISA Follies Posted on July 4th
THE CONTENTIOUS issue of whether telecommunications companies that participated in the Bush administration’s warrantless wiretapping program should be granted retroactive immunity from being sued is a particularly disturbing example of the Internet tail wagging the legislative dog. The dispute snarled Senate passage of the latest rewrite of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act before lawmakers left town for the July 4 recess. In the interim, Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.), who indicated that he would support the compromise even with an immunity provision, is simultaneously being attacked as a flip-flopper — he had previously vowed to filibuster any bill that shielded the companies — and urged to flip again. An Internet petition drive is underway to pressure Mr. Obama to knuckle under. Mr. Obama should hold firm, along with other colleagues who support the underlying, painstakingly achieved bipartisan compromise.
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