US judge refuses to stop states from probing domestic spying

SAN FRANCISCO (AFP) - A US judge Tuesday refused pleas by federal lawyers to stop officials in five states from investigating what roles telecommunications firms played in anti-terror domestic spying.

San Francisco District Court Chief Judge Vaughn Walker rejected arguments that federal authority trumps state powers in the matter and that the probes amounted to unconstitutional meddling in foreign affairs policy.

The motions for "summary judgment' by federal lawyers were based on rules that prohibit interference with federal foreign affairs powers or discriminating against the federal government, or conflicting with a congressional mandate.

The states of Missouri, Maine, New Jersey, Connecticut and Vermont want telecommunications companies to hand over information about customer telephone records shared with the National Security Agency.

"The court concludes that federal law does not expressly preempt the states' laws at issue here," Walker said in a written ruling.

"The court agrees with the state officials that mere incantation of 'sovereign interests' does not suffice."

Walker wrote that while states are barred from "meddling" with federal government activities "this rule does not, however, oblige special treatment."

A plethora of domestic spying cases are consolidated under Walker, who previously rejected arguments by government lawyers that they be tossed out on the basis that they could threaten national security by revealing how authorities gather intelligence.

The judge ruled that the interests of justice outweigh the need to protect "state secrets." Federal attorneys are asking the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals to overturn that decision.

Walker postponed addressing the third leg of the federal government's summary judgment argument -- that the states' investigations run afoul of the state secrets privilege -- until after a decision by the appeals court.

"It clears out the underbrush and makes state secrets the remaining issue," said Electronic Frontier Foundation attorney Kurt Opsahl, who represents plaintiffs in the domestic spying lawsuit at the heart of the appeal.

"It is good news and helps set the stage. We are hopeful, of course, that we will prevail at the Ninth Circuit."