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the feds suing the states....WTF????
Maybe it's just me, but didn't we have all kinds of debates and conventions to make sure the central government didn't become 'all-powerful'???
Feds sues Missouri state officials over AT&T suit
Quote:
The U.S. government, citing national security concerns, on Tuesday sued Missouri officials for demanding that AT&T Inc. disclose whether it gave customer data to the government's spying program.
Missouri Public Service Commissioners Robert Clayton and Steve Gaw, state utility regulators, had served subpoenas to AT&T Missouri and its affiliates in June amid speculation over their involvement with the National Security Agency.
The government's civil suit, submitted by the U.S. Department of Justice to a district court in Missouri, said the state officials' attempts to obtain the information from AT&T and its affiliates were invalid.
"This court should therefore enter a declaratory judgment that the State Defendants do not have the authority to seek confidential and sensitive federal government information and thus cannot enforce the subpoenas they have served on the telecommunications carriers," the suit said.
The federal government has also sued the New Jersey Attorney General who also subpoenaed AT&T over the issue.
An AT&T spokesman declined to comment. In May, it said it has an obligation to assist law enforcement and other government agencies, but could not comment specifically on national security issues.
USA Today reported in May that AT&T, Verizon Communications Inc. and BellSouth Corp. gave the NSA access to their call data so it could secretly analyze calling patterns to detect terrorist plots.
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Is THIS the latest attack on states rights? to sue them in to insolvency?
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"no amount of force can control a free man, a man whose mind is free. No, not the rack, not fission bombs, not anything. You cannot conquer a free man; the most you can do is kill him."
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