Will Congress race to immunize the telecom companies before then? So that even though they have BROKEN THE LAW, they won't be liable?

It's good to see our JUDICIAL SYSTEM working this through. That's as it should be.

The White House has until Dec. 10 to produce lobbying records involving the telecommunications industry's efforts to win retroactive immunity for its participation in President Bush's domestic spying program.

The decision late Nov. 11 by U.S. District Judge Susan Illston in San Francisco will allow the records to be released in time for the Senate debate on reforming the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, which is set to begin as early as next week. The House version of the bill does not grant immunity for carriers who participated in the warrantless wiretapping of telephone calls and e-mail.

"We are pleased Judge Illston recognized that time was running out for these documents to make a difference in the legislative debate," David Sobel, senior counsel at the EFF (Electronic Frontier Foundation), said in a statement. "She agreed that the administration is dragging its feet in making relevant information available and stressed that the public has a right to full disclosure before Congress acts on the pending telecom amnesty proposals."

The EFF sued the White House's ODNI (Office of the Director of National Intelligence) after its slow response to the EFF's FOIA (Freedom of Information Act) request to disclose information about any telecom lobbying activity for immunity. The EFF made the FOIA request Aug. 31.

President Bush wants Congress to grant immunity to the carriers that agreed to turn over customer telephone and e-mail records—often without a warrant or subpoena—to the government. The White House launched the warrantless surveillance in the aftermath of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks