Domestic Spying: Tell Senate No Blank Check - FCNL

Legislative Action Message: June 22, 2006

http://www.fcnl.org/action/alert_print.htm


Domestic Spying: Tell the Senate No Blank Check

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The Senate is considering dangerous legislation that would permit the president to spy on people in the U.S. without a warrant, without accountability to Congress or the courts, and without demonstrating any connection between the spying activities and national security. The leading bill (S. 2453), sponsored by committee chair Sen. Arlen Specter (PA), would also criminalize the release of any Ainside information@ about the spying program by whistle blowers or others who might believe that the program was operating illegally.

Many members of Congress from both major political parties concluded earlier this year that the president broke the law when he authorized a massive domestic spying program that collected the records of every phone number dialed by nearly 200 million people in this country over the last five years. Under this new legislation, the president is given amnesty for his past actions and the National Security Agency would be permitted to continue its spying program without court review for as long as the president determines necessary.

The administration has characterized this program as a Aterrorist surveillance program.@ But this surveillance program does not focus narrowly on suspect individuals. The new legislation would give blanket permission for the U.S. government to collect information on the phone calls of hundreds of millions of ordinary residents in this country. Relying on this legislation, the president, under some circumstances could also claim the right to scan the content of Internet communications and even search homes and offices without a warrant.

The Senate Judiciary Committee is expected to vote on this legislation within the next week and then it will come before the full Senate.
Take Action Now

Please contact your senators today. Alert them to the danger of the National Security Surveillance Act (S. 2453) and any other legislation that allows the president to operate above the law. Senators have the responsibility to protect the constitutional right of people in the U.S. to meet together and to express our views freely without becoming a focus of secret spying by U.S. government agencies. Urge senators to take this opportunity to speak out against legislation that allows wholesale spying on people in the U.S.

Please consider forwarding this alert to five friends who would be concerned about privacy and domestic spying and ask them to contact their senators as well.
Background

In December, the president acknowledged that he had authorized a secret domestic spying program that tracks overseas telephone calls of U.S. persons, without warrants. News sources have now revealed that the program is much broader than the President's original description - it has collected the records of every phone number dialed over the last five years by an estimated 200 million people in this country. This program, which operates completely without court review, violates the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA).

Sen. Specter's bill, S. 2453, would give the president amnesty for his past actions by adding a new legal basis for spying on U.S. persons: the"presidents inherent authority."

The president has asserted that, as Commander in Chief of the armed forces, he has "inherent authority" to override the clear requirements of FISA. But that assertion is not widely supported by constitutional scholars and has been challenged by members of Congress from both major political parties. As Rep. Gerald Nadler (NY) pointed out during a recent House debate, "The president is Commander in Chief of the armed forces, but he is not commander in chief of the United States."

The FISA statute makes it clear that the president currently does not have authority to spy on people in the U.S. without a warrant. Congress has spoken on that issue and has required that all domestic spying be authorized by a warrant, either from regular courts or from the FISA court. Minor delays and exceptions were described in the FISA statute for times of war or other emergency situations. Beyond those provisions, the president has no authority to violate the Fourth Amendment.

The legislation being considered by the Senate Judiciary Committee would give the president that authority, for the first time in U.S. history.

For more information on the FISA courts and presidential authority see the June issue of FCNL's Washington Newsletter "Democracy in the Balance" at http://www.fcnl.org/pubs/nl_preview.htm.

See some FCNL's other resources at http://www.fcnl.org/issues/issue.php?issue_id=80.



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Contacting Legislators

Capitol Switchboard: 202-224-3121

Sen. ________
U.S. Senate
Washington, DC 20510

Rep. ________
U.S. House of Representatives
Washington, DC 20515
Contacting the Administration

White House Comment Desk:
202 456-1111
Fax: 202-456-2461
president@whitehouse.gov
White House web site: http://www.whitehouse.gov/

President George W. Bush
The White House
Washington, DC 20500


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