June 12, 2013 1:56PM 

# “No One Should Get a Free Pass.…” 

By [Walter Olson](https://www.cato.org/people/walter-olson) 

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![Picture of Barack Obama and 2008 quote from him on telecom immunity](/sites/cato.org/files/styles/pubs_2x/public/download-remote-images/fbcdn-sphotos-c-a.akamaihd.net/96402233682/964089_471609529591423_1999488129_o.jpg?itok=KSuI3ZLP) 

Thanks to Cato’s Caleb Brown for this graphic reminder of then-candidate Barack Obama’s [hairpin](http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/02/us/politics/02fisa.html?_r=0) [backflip](http://www.huffingtonpost.com/news/obama-telecom-immunity) on the question of [telecom immunity](http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-502163_162-4200105-502163.html)—one that was to prefigure his [backflips](https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2012/10/fact-check-obamas-misleading-answer-about-warrantless-wiretapping-daily-show) on a [long list](http://www.salon.com/2012/05/24/warrantless_spying_fight/) of other surveillance and civil liberties issues.

##### Related Tags 

[Constitutional Law](https://www.cato.org/constitutional-law), [Technology and Privacy](https://www.cato.org/technology-privacy), [Robert A. Levy Center for Constitutional Studies](https://www.cato.org/robert-levy-center-constitutional-studies) 

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