This week, Democratic senators attempted to amend the current bill with three different provisions that would have dramatically weakened or stripped the immunity provisions from the current legislation. An amendment proposed by Senator Christopher Dodd, D-Conn., would have fully removed the immunity clause, while additional legislation proposed by Senator Arlen Specter, R-Penn., would have forced the courts to determine the constitutionality of the programs before dismissing the lawsuits. A final amendment, proposed by Senator Jeff Bingaman, D-N.M., would have delayed the immunity decision until an investigation revealed the extent and legality of the Bush Administration's eavesdropping.

Each of the amendments was defeated by a healthy margin.

While the U.S. government has succeeded in dismissing all-but-one lawsuit against its various agencies by using a legal provision known as the state-secrets privilege, telecommunications firms continue to face numerous lawsuits seeking to discover the extent of their surveillance of American citizens. The latest bill, which experts predict will be signed quickly by President Bush, gives telecommunications companies the ability to dismiss the lawsuits, if they show written evidence that the U.S. government requested their cooperation.

Granting immunity to telecommunications companies could mean that firms will not question the legality of government requests before complying in the future, Greg Nojeim, senior counsel for the Center for Democracy and Technology, said in a recent interview.

"If this immunity sets a precedent of telecoms expectations in the future, civil liberties protections in the law won't matter, (because) future administrations can do as this one did and skirt the law to get the cooperation of the telecoms," Nojeim said.

The Electronic Frontier Foundation -- which is representing the plaintiffs in Hepting v. AT&T, one of the lawsuits against the telecommunications companies, alleging that AT&T wiretapped millions of its customers -- vowed on Wednesday not to give up the fight.

"We will fight this unconstitutional grant of immunity in the courtroom and in the Congress, requesting repeal of the immunity in the next session, while seeking justice from the Judiciary," Kurt Opsahl, also a senior staff attorney with the group, said in a statement. "Nor can the lawless officials who approved this massive violation of Americans' rights rest easy, for we will file a new suit against the government and challenge warrantless wiretapping, past, present and future."

CORRECTION: The article included an incorrect tally of the U.S. Senate vote on H.R. 6304. The legislative body voted 69 in favor of the act and 28 in opposition, with 3 senators failing to vote.

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