September 18, 2007 5:59 AM

Will AT&T ever be held accountable for wiretapping Americans?

This just in from emptywheel by way of savetheinternet.com:

...one of AT&T's former key attorneys, Peter Keisler, just took over the Department of Justice.

While advocates seem to believe the nation has dodged a bullet with the nomination of Mukasey for Attorney General, the acting AG put in place by the Bush administration raises troubling questions about the transition. (For more on Mukasey, see our post on ten things Mukasey must do to put the "Justice" back in the DOJ.)

How bad could Keisler be? Keep in mind, the attorney general can authorize telecom companies to participate in the Bush administration's warrantless wiretapping of Americans.

As emptywheel explains:

Basically, Bush just gave AT&T the ability to have its long-time lawyer give it legal authority to collaborate with the government to spy on citizens.

Get the whole story here.