EFF Suit Against AT&T Moves Forward

The U.S. government was dealt a serious setback in its efforts to keep its ties with AT&T secret, as a federal judge in San Francisco ruled in a 72-page decision Thursday that the government's claims that the case should be dismissed on state secrets grounds could not be supported by legal precedence.

U.S. District Chief Judge Vaughn Walker wrote in his ruling that much of the NSA's wiretapping program has already been publicly reported, thus it is no longer a secret. Additionally, he said the plaintiffs, in this case the EFF, seemed to be entitled to a discovery period to assemble evidence.

"Because of the public disclosures by the government and AT&T, the court cannot conclude that merely maintaining this action creates a 'reasonable danger' of harming national security," Walker wrote in his decision.

The court takes its constitutional duties seriously, and said it respected the Executive Branch's duty to protect the country. However, Walker wrote that a premature dismissal of the case would have brought no benefit to security while sacrificing liberties of Americans.

Again, the judge pointed to the public airing of the details of the NSA program as a reason why the state secrets defense could not be applied in this case.

The EFF first filed the suit in January, alleging that AT&T colluded with the U.S. government to illegally peer into the communications records of average Americans. Both the government and AT&T deny those claims.