We WILL see Shrub and Uncle Fester in court (I hope)

Worried that the government will find a way to trash its spying suit againt AT&T et al, the Electronic Frontier Foundation is suing Cheney and Bush themselves.

First, assuming a judge even lets this case sniff a courtroom’s air — by the time it gets there, Fester and the Preznit will be out of office and his lawyers will be paid entirely out of his (rather substantial) dime.

Besides Cheney personally, other notables on the EFF lawsuit include, but are not limited to, former Attorney General John Ashcroft, former Attorney General and White House Counsel Alberto Gonzales, Vice President Dick Cheney, and Cheney's chief of staff David Addington.

For whatever reason, Wired doesn’t list Bush as a defendant, but he is named, on para. 29, page 6 of the PDF (link below).

EFF’s idea is to monkeywrench the government’s ability to grant immunity to the telcos in the first place. (Are you listening, Barack Obama?) And it’s hoping it’s got enough whistleblower evidence for a court to grant standing.

PDF of the actual filing is at EFF's site.

Among the hugely relevant complaints is that the government is getting ex parte information funneled back to itself from AT&T, and that the government may well be spying on the plaintiffs as we speak.

The more than one dozen counts in the suit allege violation of the Fourth Amendment, First Amendment (free association as well as free speech), FISA, 50 U.S.C. § 1809, (specifics regs of electronic surveillance), 18 U.S.C. § 2511 (knowingly using material believed to be illegally intercepted), 18 U.S.C. § 2703 (secure content of stored electronic communication), 18 U.S.C. § 2703 and separation of powers (Congress and Executive usurping judicial functions).