The Electronic Frontier Foundation brought a lawsuit January 31 against AT&T alleging that the company unlawfully cooperated with the National Security Agency in implementing what President George W. Bush calls the terrorist surveillance program, a program to capture international telephone calls of suspected terrorists and their associates where one end of the call is in the United States.

The Department of Justice on Thursday asked for a stay in the case, as well as the other cases which had been consolidated with it, asking the district court to halt entirely while the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals considers the case.

“The government’s proposed stay would not be in the interests of justice in this very important case about ongoing illegal spying on millions of ordinary Americans,’ said EFF media relations coordinator Rebecca Jeschke. “Many elements of our suit can and should go forward while the 9th Circuit considers the state secrets issues.’

The Department of Justice asserted that litigating the case would reveal national security secrets, causing exceptionally grave damage to the national security, and moved to dismiss the case. In July, U.S. District Court Judge Vaughn Walker denied the government’s motion to dismiss, ruling that “because the very subject matter of this litigation has been so publicly aired . . . dismissing this case at the outset would sacrifice liberty for no apparent enhancement of security.’

The government appealed that decision, and the the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals agreed Wednesday to hear the appeal. The appeals court did not give an indication as to when it might rule on the appeal.

“We are looking forward to defending Walker’s decision to deny the motions to dismiss before the appeals court,’ said EFF staff attorney Kurt Opsahl.

After the motion to dismiss was denied, 17 other lawsuits against various telephone companies were consolidated with the EFF’s case. Judge Walker will hold a case management conference Nov. 17 for these cases, Opsahl said.

In a separate case, a federal judge in Michigan ruled that the NSA terrorist surveillance program was unconstitutional. The government is being allowed to continue the program while it pursues an appeal.

Service was restored this afternoon to the Midtown and Battery tunnels, but the most heavily traveled, the Holland and Midtown tunnels, remain without service.

Verizon Wireless is the only vendor with microcells in the tunnels. The service had never been cut off before, not even after 9/11.

Apparently the shutoff in the Midtown and Battery tunnels was a result of miscommunication between local agencies. The Metropolitan Transit Authority reported that the New York Police Department asked for service to be shut off, and the NYPD denied making any such request to the MTA.

Mayor Michael Bloomberg expressed skepticism that the shutoff made sense. “The MTA decided to do it. I don’t know whether it makes the most sense. I don’t know how long they’re going to keep it off,’ said Bloomberg.

The Port Authority has said that service in the Holland and Lincoln tunnels will remain off “until further notice.’

The concern is over the possibility of a bomb being detonated remotely by telephone call to a cellular phone wired to such a bomb. Critics contend that such bombs can also be detonated by the cellular phone’s alarm clock function in the event of a service interruption, or simply by a timer.

You know, I think I saw that bomb triggered by a cell phone in a movie somewhere. I am beginning to suspect officials have been watching too many movies or are just overly paranoid. This so-called security measure benefits no one, mitigates no risk, and actually makes matters worse, as now drivers in the tunnels cannot phone for help in the event of an actual emergency.

Update 12 July: BBC News has now picked up this story.