Appeals court sends wiretap case back to lower court

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Source: Reuters

A federal appeals court on Thursday declined to rule on whether lawsuits seeking to target President George W. Bush's warrantless wiretapping are covered by secrecy laws or can be challenged in court.

Citing the FISA Amendments Act of 2008, a three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Thursday sent the case entitled "Hepting v AT&T" back to a district court that had heard an earlier case.

The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act governs wiretapping of foreign agents but also spells out ground rules for investigating U.S. citizens suspected of espionage.

The suit against AT&T alleged the telecom company violated federal privacy laws by helping the government wiretap U.S. Internet users. The 9th Circuit panel heard arguments last August but waited to publish its ruling until now.



Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20080821/pl_nm/security_usa_wiretap_dc

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1. Actual Opinion

9th Circuit list of cases: The opinion has NOT yet been added, only the ORDER has been added, as of 7:00 pm, August 21, 2008. No opinion has yet been published on the 9th Circuit website, only the ORDER sending the case back down to the Trial Court:
http://www.ca9.uscourts.gov/ca9/newopinions.nsf/Opinions+by+date?OpenView&Start=1&Count=100&Expand=1.1