Opposition is mounting against the Cheney-Specter surveillance bill. Specter postponed a vote on the bill until after a hearing on Wednesday, having tried to rush it through yesterday.

As we pointed out, yesterday's victory allowing our case against AT&T to go forward demonstrates that the conventional court system is perfectly capable of handling cases related to the illegal spying program and can do so by balancing the public's need for transparency with proper protections for security. Any bill, including Specter's, that would attempt to sweep these cases into the secret FISA courts should be rejected.

Slate seconds the notion in an excellent article, noting that "Specter's premise is that regular courts cannot handle these extremely secret and sensitive matters. [Judge Vaughn] Walker punctured that myth of secrecy...."

We know this bill's bad, now the press gets it -- but we still urgently need to convince the Senate to reject it. If your Senator is on the Judiciary Committee, make your opposition heard.

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