A federal appeals court ruled Tuesday that the government is immune to wireless wiretapping lawsuits in a decision that the plaintiff’s attorney says releases Washington and the White House from ever being held accountable for spying on citizens.

A three-judge panel serving the US Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in California canceled an attempt from the attorney representing the now-defunct al-Haramain Islamic Foundation to hold the federal government accountable for wiretapping his clients without a warrant, despite previously winning a federal case on the argument that the interception of phone records occurred illegally.

A San Francisco federal judge ruled in favor of the plaintiffs in 2010 after attorney’s for the Islamic Foundation successfully took on the government for spying on his client under the Bush administration’s so-called Terrorist Surveillance Program.