(It appears that one of the lawyers bringing the lawsuit against Verizon has contributed over $10,000 to Democrats and Greens since 1997. Scroll down for more.)

It was probably only a matter of time before some hungry lawyer decided to file suit over the NSA call records program.

The Chicago Tribune reports that Verizon has has been sued by two New Jersey "public interest" lawyers for $5 billion:

... two New Jersey public interest lawyers filed suit against Verizon in U.S. District Court in Manhattan, seeking $1,000 in damages for each record improperly turned over to the NSA or up to $5 billion in all.

"No warrants have been issued for the disclosure of such information, no suspicion of terrorist activity or other criminal activity has been alleged against the subscribers," the suit alleges.

Of course I'm sure this suit is all about civil liberties...

Update: Here is another report on the lawsuit.

The two lawyers filing suit are named Bruce Afran and Carl Mayer.

OpenSecrets.org shows that a lawyer from Princeton, NJ, named Carl Mayer donated $4,000 to Ralph Nader in 2004.

A search also shows that Mayer contributed $5,000 to the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee in 1997.

Update II: Mayer has also contributed over the years to former Democratic governor of New Jersey Brendan Byrne ($250 in 1999); Rep. Steven Rothman, D-NJ, ($250 in 1997); the NJ Democratic State Committee ($500 in 1997); and the Green Party's Joseph Fortunato ($200 in 2000). He also contributed $1,000 to NJ Democrat David Del Vecchio, who unsuccessfully ran for Congress in 1996.

That's a total of over $10,000 to Democrats and Greens over the years.

Update III: Dan Riehl has more.