Senior Lecturer in Law Allen S. Weiner is quoted in a Washington Independent article on Congress passing a wiretapping bill that gives immunity to telecommunications companies:

Critics and legal scholars, however, have been quick to point out that the proposal doesn't put the courts in a position to decide whether the administration's requests violated any laws.

"The legality of the order itself would not be something for the court to adjudicate," said Allen Weiner, a Stanford University law professor specializing in Internet and security issues. "It's a face-saving technique that let's some people claim there was a compromise. But on this issue of telecom immunity, it is not a compromise, it's a capitulation."