Russ Feingold is At It Again
Sen. Russ Feingold (D-WI), the only member of the U.S. Senate who voted against the PATRIOT Act in 2001, is now co-sponsoring a bill to revise both its excesses and the excesses of a bill passed last year to permit warrantless wiretapping. The new JUSTICE Act would:
- Put an end to the controversial Section 206 and Section 215 provisions of the PATRIOT Act, which allow for vague "roving wiretaps" and provide warrantless access to library records;
- Correct the FISA Amendments Act (FAA) passed last year, which created a mechanism by which the federal government could surveil international telephone calls with very few safeguards;
- Revise the National Security Letter statute, which allows the federal government warrantless access to financial records and permits them to impose a gag rule on any decision to obtain the records; and
- Revision of Section 6001 of the Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act, which currently allows the government to secretly monitor the activities of an individual even if s/he is not affiliated with a terrorist organization.
There are procedures by which federal investigators can investigate possible terrorists with confidential judicial oversight, preserving the secrecy of investigations and ensuring that Fourth Amendment standards are met. The policies the JUSTICE Act would revise certainly make it easier for federal investigators to conduct their work, but they do so by cutting corners and granting broad powers that run afoul of privacy rights. Feingold's bill may or may not pass in its present form, but parts of the bill will make it to the president's desk--and if he signs even half of these reforms, it will represent the first meaningful and voluntary scaling-back of executive power since the Carter administration.
Related: A Short Illustrated History of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA)
Comments
Kudos to Sen. Russ Feingold.
It is amazing how Americans have reached the point where measures that would merely retrench and PARTIALLY undo the harm to fundamental American liberties that have been created by a former fascist admiistration are now considered “extremist” and probably have zero chance of passing [or of not being vetoed if passed through some miracle]. The authors of the American Bill of Rights must be spinning in their graves.
Costa Rica, anyone?
I have endured seven years of illegal wireless eavesdropping by intelligence agencies that do not wish to put me on a flight to elude the sprinkler and other goodies the electronic equipment incorporates. I have had significant trouble locating and keeping employment, and besides the Attorney General, which offers dire consequences to the individuals involved, there is no one that may wish to help me. One suffers severe employment and financial loss, and is not able to stop it, since Directors don’t seem to care 24/7, or want to help them recoup their losses.
I must say the liberal party is grooooming Mr. Feingold.
If a politic wanted to make a good name for themselves. Start by cleaning up the useless bills passed for NO GOOD REASON.