This is very interesting and I’d like to know more. Cindy Cohn of the Electronic Frontier Foundation was quoted in the NY Times two days ago saying that retroactive immunity for telecom companies who illegally spied on Americans with the Bush administration could be reversed under an Obama administration.

In perhaps the most critical test, civil liberties groups that are suing major phone companies that took part in the N.S.A. program are waiting to find out whether a federal judge will throw out the lawsuits based on immunity granted by Congress in June.

The Justice Department has already moved to take advantage of the immunity provision by certifying in court that the phone companies were complying with a presidential order. But the Electronic Frontier Foundation, a civil liberties group that has taken the lead in the lawsuit, maintains that Congress acted beyond its powers.

A hearing is set for Dec. 2. Cindy Cohn, legal director for the foundation, said that as the case moved forward the new administration could act to withdraw the immunity certification made by the Bush Justice Department.

“Nothing will be over by Jan. 20,” when Mr. Obama is inaugurated, Ms. Cohn said.

If this is a possibility, I hope one of the first acts of the Obama Justice Department is to withdraw certifications of immunity from these telecom companies.

It’s also heartening to see that the good people at the EFF are still fighting to uncover the truth and maintain the rule of law in the face of the 110th Congress caving like a house of cards to the Bush-Cheney administration’s demands for retroactive immunity and the gutting of FISA. Hopefully the EFF will find friendlier partners in the Obama administration.