EFF AT&T NSA Decision - Talmudic Commentary Begins

One thing to note about yesterday's news that District Court Judge Vaughn Walker denied the government's attempt to have the Electronic Frontier Foundation lawsuit against AT&T for allegedly helping with the government's warrantless wiretapping program dismissed on state secrets grounds.

He wrote a 72-page opinion on motions to dismiss.

Clearly Walker wants his decision to be appeal-proof, since this case is headed soon to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals when the government and maybe AT&T appeals the decision.†

If the Ninth upholds Walker, this is likely headed to the Supreme Court.

For some good legal analysis of the case, find Orin Kerr's initial take here, Noah gets some words from Patrick Radden Keefe here, ScotusBlog here.

How noteworthy of a decision is it?

The go-to guy for news on such things, Stephen Aftergood of Secrecy News says:

The court's rejection of unconditional judicial deference is noteworthy. Although the executive branch's assertion of the state secrets privilege has been denied on at least four occasions in the past, those denials seem to have been based on technical defects or procedural failings rather than a substantial judicial assessment of the merits of the claim.

Full Aftergood post.