US judge orders domestic spying cases to proceed (AFP)

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A federal judge ordered dozens of terrorism-related lawsuits to proceed despite a pending appeal.

Feb. 21, 2007 -- (AFP) -- U.S. officials failed to sideline dozens of domestic spying lawsuits Tuesday as a federal judge ordered the war on terror-connected cases to proceed despite a pending appeal.

San Francisco District Court Chief Judge Vaughn Walker issued a brief written ruling that allowed evidence-gathering to commence conditionally despite protests by government lawyers.

The government lawyers wanted Walker to halt the proceedings while they press the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals to reverse his decision last year not to toss out the first of the cases in the interest of national security.

In what is the first of 48 domestic spying lawsuits consolidated before Walker, the Electronic Freedom Foundation sued AT and T on behalf of telecom customers.

The EFF suit charged that AT and T let the National Security Administration (NSA) snoop on e-mails and telephone calls without warrants required to do such spying legally.

The White House has confirmed that it authorized the NSA program to track overseas communications as part of "war on terror" attempts to uncover threats against the country.

The case is being closely followed as a model after similar lawsuits on the same issue, involving Verizon, Sprint, Bell South, and AT and T, were ordered consolidated before Walker.