White House readies phone-tap case concession

The Obama administration may be on the verge of a major concession in a long-running legal battle over records about so-called telecom immunity. An email obtained by POLITICO shows that the Obama Administration is preparing for the possible release of some details of the Bush Administration’s lobbying for legislation giving telecommunications companies immunity from lawsuits over their involvement in warrantless domestic wiretapping. But even if they do release those details, the administration may press on with a legal battle to keep secret the identities of the companies involved in the program. The reported decision would be a significant reversal by President Barack Obama’s administration and followed a series of legal setbacks the government suffered recently in the FOIA case seeking the records from last year’s debate over granting immunity to the telecoms. However, the move could also be a litigating tactic to surrender some of the less sensitive information in the case in order to bolster the government’s credibility for a determined attempt to protect the most sensitive data: the names of the companies which were seeking immunity...read more

In other words, they can use public money to lobby a public entity, but the public can't see all the records.