Sen. Orrin Hatch says the phone companies that participated in the Bush administration's warrantless wiretapping program are "patriotic" and deserve retroactive immunity for allowing the administration to eavesdrop on Americans ("Senate vote backs Bush on wiretaps," Tribune, July 10). Since companies are automatically immunized when complying with any lawful request, the retroactive immunity is to protect the companies that went along with requests that were not lawful.

The administration has admitted that the surveillance program instituted in 2001 operated outside the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (the sole legal approval of surveillance requests), and the telecoms' attorneys surely know lawful requests from unlawful ones, since some companies refused unwarranted access to their customers' files. So how can Hatch justify as patriotic "cooperating" with lawbreaking officials? Apparently, he agrees with Richard Nixon: "If the president does it, it's not illegal."

Hatch swore to uphold the Constitution, including Fourth Amendment protections against unwarranted invasions of privacy, but he praises those who gut the amendment and act outside the law.

Linda DeSimone

Park City