As the ACLU worries that Senate Democrats in the intelligence committee will give retroactive immunity to telephone companies for collaborating with the administration’s warrantless surveillance program, the two senior members of the judiciary committee say they won’t entertain that without knowing what the telecoms did.
Here’s Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-VT) and ranking member Arlen Specter (R-PA) speaking earlier today on CNN:
Specter:
I certainly would not give them immunity retroactively on programs that we donât know what they areâ¦. I think itâs unreasonable to ask us to give them immunity for things we donât know what they did. If there was a need for it at the time, and if the telephone companies were good citizens and if they supplied information which was important, then Iâd be prepared to look at it. But Iâm not going to buy a pig in a poke, and commit to retroactive immunity when I donât know what went on. Theyâve kept that from us. Thatâs a big problem, Wolf.