National Security Agency U S

AT&T Inc. was sued in Texas over claims that the company violated customers' privacy by providing personal data to the National Security Agency. The suit was filed in federal court on behalf of AT&T customers who "have had telephone records divulged by AT&T to the National Security Agency," said George & Bros., the Austin law firm that filed the suit. AT&T, Verizon Communications Inc. and BellSouth Corp.

The Bush administration has asked federal judges in New York and Michigan to dismiss a pair of lawsuits filed over the National Security Agency's domestic eavesdropping program, saying litigating them would jeopardize state secrets. In papers filed late Friday, Justice Department lawyers said it would be impossible to defend the legality of the spying program without disclosing classified information that could be of value to suspected terrorists. National Intelligence Director John D.

The National Security Agency's controversial domestic surveillance program faces its first major court test today before a veteran federal judge in Detroit. In January, groups including the American Civil Liberties Union and the Michigan branch of the Council on American-Islamic Relations as well as several individuals, who said they feared the government was spying on them, filed a 60-page lawsuit seeking to have the warrantless wiretapping program declared unconstitutional.

The U.S. government has sued a New Jersey official to stop an inquiry into whether phone companies gave the National Security Agency customer information without a warrant. State Atty. Gen. Zulima Farber lacked the authority to subpoena carriers including AT&T Inc. for the information, said the suit, filed Wednesday in Trenton, N.J.

A federal judge weighing one of the first lawsuits against the National Security Agency's domestic spying efforts has asked the government how the case should proceed if he refuses authorities' request to dismiss it. The series of questions U.S. District Judge Vaughn Walker published Tuesday implied that he was reluctant to grant the government motion to end the case under the "state secrets privilege," a powerful argument that usually succeeds in quashing litigation.

Even if telephone carriers are surrendering all the e-mail that travels on their networks to government investigators, customers have no right to sue -- regardless of whether the program is legal, federal lawyers told a judge Friday. The Justice Department arguments came during the first court hearing over whether government demands for secrecy could scuttle a closely watched civil case against AT&T Corp. for allegedly allowing the National Security Agency to monitor phone and data traffic.

An attempt to halt the National Security Agency's controversial domestic surveillance program generated intense legal debate Monday before a veteran federal judge, with opponents branding it a threat to American citizens and defenders contending it is legal and essential to national security.

President Bush has agreed on a plan to submit the National Security Agency's controversial domestic electronic surveillance program to a secret court for a limited review of its constitutionality, senators and White House officials said Thursday.

When the White House's secret domestic surveillance program was revealed last year, Sen. Arlen Specter was one of the first to leap into action, denouncing the wiretapping as "wrong" and insisting that President Bush acted outside the law by not seeking judicial or congressional approval. "We're not going to give him a blank check," the Republican from Pennsylvania insisted at the time.

A federal judge in Detroit ruled Thursday that the government's warrantless domestic wiretapping program is unconstitutional and must be halted. U.S. District Judge Anna Diggs Taylor held that the wiretapping program violates the 1st and 4th Amendments to the Constitution, which respectively protect free speech and prohibit unlawful searches.