Name:

I was previously a constitutional law and civil rights litigator and am now a journalist. I am the author of three New York Times bestselling books -- "How Would a Patriot Act" (a critique of Bush executive power theories), "Tragic Legacy" (documenting the Bush legacy), and With Liberty and Justice for Some (critiquing America's two-tiered justice system and the collapse of the rule of law for its political and financial elites). My fifth book - No Place to Hide: Edward Snowden, the NSA and the US Surveillance State - will be released on April 29, 2014 by Holt/Metropolitan.

Saturday, May 24, 2008

Email to McCain campaign

A blogger at Wired posted yesterday that a McCain campaign representative (Chuck Fish) said that McCain opposes telecom immunity until (a) there are "hearings to find out what actually happened and what harms actually occurred" and (b) the telecoms apologize for what they did (see here).

That marks a substantial (and, in my view, extremely favorable) change in Sen. McCain's position on this important issue, given that, back in February, McCain voted in favor of the Senate Intelligence Committee bill which contained telecom immunity (see here).

I'm writing a piece on this for Salon and would like to know:

(a) Did Chuck Fish accurately describe McCain's position on telecom immunity?

(b) Does McCan believe that telecoms -- in the absence of hearings to find out what they did and in the absence of an apology -- should be immunized from liability, even if they broke the law when enabling government spying?

(c) Does McCain believe that telecoms did break the law by allowing government spying on their customers without warrants?

(d) Has McCain's position on telecom immunity evolved in any way since the February vote?

Any answers you could provide for the piece I'm writing will be included. Thanks -

Glenn Greenwald
SALON