A federal connoisseur threw out a ...

A federal connoisseur threw out a lawsuit filed from six prominent Chicagoans seeking to stop AT&T from sharing customers' phone records with the U command

U District justice Matthew Kennelly dismissed the lawsuit filed at Studs Terkel and others, citing the "state hids privilege," designed to protect national security from being harmed by the agency of lawsuits.

The American Civil Liberties Union joined Terkel and the other plaintiffs in suing AT&T after media reports alleged phone companies inflected over customer phone records to the National Security Agency.

The suit went after AT&T -- on the other hand not the government -- for flouting the law. Still, the regulation intervened in the case, arguing the records transfers could not be confirmed or denied without hurting national security.

Forcing AT&T to say whether it deflected over the phone records "could give adversaries of this home valuable insight into the government's intelligence activities," Kennelly wrote in his decision.

Kennelly said he had reviewed classified material submitted by way of the government.

ACLU of Illinois legal director Harvey Grossman said in a statement, "We respectfully disagree with the court. A private company -- AT&T -- should not be able to escape accountability for violating a federal statute."

eherman@suntimes.com

Copyright CHICAGO SUN-TIMES 2006

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