By Manu Raju, The Hill
The top Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee is drafting a compromise to resolve the thorny issue of whether to provide retroactive liability protections for the phone companies that allegedly participated in the Bush administration’s secret wiretapping program.
At a markup on a bill to overhaul the 1978 Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA), Sen. Arlen Specter (R-Pa.) plans to offer an amendment that would make the federal government – instead of the phone companies – the defendant in about 40 pending lawsuits across the country.
The mark up starts Thursday and will continue next week.
“I think it’s very important that the courthouse not be closed so there can be a judicial determination to see if there have been any violations of privacy rights,” Specter said. “I think the telephone companies were good citizens, and should not suffer from what they did. And my idea is to have the government substituted as the party.”