Telecom Immunity Update

House Intelligence Committee Chairman Silvestre (really, dude? -ed.) Reyes has claimed that he is willing to compromise with Republicans on telecom immunity, namely by allowing the secret FISA court to determine whether immunity ought to be granted. This is a similar proposal to the one offered by Diane Feinstein (D-CA) months ago, a proposal which, had it been accepted, would likely have made disclosure of the specifics of the surveillance program impossible.

As Digby notes, the 40 or so lawsuits against the the telecoms aren't that serious of a threat to the companies in terms of potential awards:

"There just isn't enough money at stake to explain this. Nobody's suing for the money, they are suing for the discovery. Something bad happened here and the Democrats are helping the Republicans cover it up."