SURRENDER IS HABIT-FORMING, EH?:

Warrantless Wiretapping Deal Struck (PAMELA HESS, 6/19/08, AP)

House and Senate leaders have agreed to a new compromise surveillance bill that would effectively shield from potentially costly civil lawsuits telecommunications companies that helped the government wiretap citizens' phone and computer lines after the September 11 terrorist attacks without court permission. [...]

A congressional official said he believes all the companies have such orders, and therefore all 40 cases would be dismissed. There was small chance of them progressing anyway; the Bush administration has stymied them by invoking its state's secret privilege to bar evidence from being brought into court.