The Senate has postponed a vote that could have permanently expanded the government’s ability to carry out domestic surveillance and give immunity to telecommunications companies that have assisted in the government’s illegal spying. After a daylong debate, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid pulled the bill. The opposition to the telecom immunity provision was led by Democratic senator and presidential candidate Christopher Dodd, who threatened to filibuster the bill.

Sen. Christopher Dodd: “This administration has equated corporations’ bottom lines with our nation’s security. Following that reasoning honestly to its end, and you come to the conclusion: the larger a corporation, the more lawless it can be. If we accept Mr. McConnell’s premises, we would conceive of a corporation so wealthy, so integral to our economy, that its riches place it outside the law altogether. And if the administration’s thinking even admits that possibility, we know instinctively how flawed it is, of course. The truth is exactly the opposite, Mr. President: the larger the corporation, the greater potential for abuse and the more carefully it must be watched.”

Dodd said the postponement of the vote was a victory for American civil liberties.