Officials sued over phone records access

WASHINGTON (AP) — The federal government sued the New Jersey attorney general and other state officials Wednesday to stop them from seeking information about telephone companies' cooperation with the National Security Agency.

The unusual filing in U.S. District Court in Trenton, N.J., is the latest effort by federal authorities to halt legal proceedings aimed at revealing whether and how often AT&T, Verizon and other phone companies have provided customer records to the NSA without a court order.

New Jersey Attorney General Zulima Farber, a Democrat, and other officials sent subpoenas to five carriers on May 17, asking for documents that would explain whether they supplied customer records to the NSA, the lawsuit said.

Farber subpoenaed the phone companies for information because she suspected state consumer protection laws may have been violated if in fact the phone companies were turning over such records, Farber spokesman David Wald said.

http://www.syracuse.com/newsflash/washington/index.ssf?/base/politics-10/1150328386312790.xml&storylist=washington

> New Jersey Attorney General Zulima Farber, a Democrat, and
> other officials sent subpoenas to five carriers on May 17, asking for
> documents that would explain whether they supplied customer records to
> the NSA, the lawsuit said.

And just how is Farber's political affiliation germain to this story?

:kick:

State can go fuck itself! Look at this being settled by the SCOTUS, outcome in favor of the Feds.

US sues New Jersey over phone company subpoenas

Thu Jun 15, 2006 08:17 PM ET

NEW YORK (Reuters) - The U.S. government has sued the New Jersey Attorney General's office on grounds of security concerns to prevent it from asking telephone companies if they gave customer call records to the National Security Agency.

The government wants to stop the disclosure of confidential and sensitive information, according to the lawsuit filed in Trenton, New Jersey on Wednesday, a day before phone companies were due to reply to subpoenas issued by the New Jersey attorney general.

"Compliance with the subpoenas issued by those officers would first place the carriers in a position of having to confirm or deny the existence of information that cannot be confirmed or denied without causing exceptionally grave harm to national security," the lawsuit said.

New Jersey Attorney General Zulima Farber sent subpoenas to AT&T, Verizon Communications Inc., Cingular Wireless, Sprint Nextel and Qwest Communications International Inc. on May 17 asking if they had cooperated with the NSA.

(more at link)

<http://go.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=domesticNews&storyID=12546921&src=rss/domesticNews>

Why isn't that rag the New York Times putting this on its front page? New Jersey is just across the river.

"You have the right to remain silent, the right to an attorney. Anything you say may be used against you..."