House Passes Bill to Kill Multibillion-Dollar Lawsuits Against Phone Companies

The House has overwhelmingly passed, by a vote of 293-to-129, a FISA reform bill that would kill multibillion dollar lawsuits brought by the ACLU and trial lawyers against the phone companies for assisting the federal government’s antiterror surveillance program.   Given the claims about how the bill would undermine privacy rights, it’s worth noting that many opponents of the bill, like the ACLU, have themselves supported sharp restrictions on privacy and individual rights when doing so advances politically-correct causes.  I earlier explained why the phone companies deserve protection from those lawsuits, and how they have been victims of a legal double-standard.  Andrew McCarthy defends the federal government’s antiterror surveillance program here.