Chris Dodd said something relative to the telecoms that said right on point last month. Let me quote this in full,

 Quote:
“When one company gave the NSA a secret eavesdropping room at its own corporate headquarters, it was simply doing its patriotic duty. The president asked, the telecoms answered. Shouldn‘t that be an easy case to prove, Mr. President? The corporations only need to show a judge the authority and the assurances they were given and they will be in and out of court in five minutes. If the telecoms are as defensible as the president says, why doesn‘t the president let them defend themselves, if the case is so easy to make, why doesn‘t he let them make it? Why is he standing in the way?”