On Thursday, in the wake of news story after news story about the Bush Administration's repeated secret efforts to invade our privacy without court order, my colleague John Conyers and I introduced an important new bill -- and
we're asking for your help to encourage your Member of Congress to support it.
The "Lawful Intelligence and Surveillance of Terrorists in an Emergency by NSA Act" (LISTEN Act) would make it perfectly clear that any efforts to listen in on Americans or gather phone & email records must comply with FISA and Title III of the criminal code -- no ifs, ands, or buts.
What we're seeing now is a lawless White House out of control -- and that must stop.
More on the flip.
Through the LISTEN Act, we also make it perfectly clear that Congress did not grant President Bush permission to circumvent FISA in the 2002 Authorization to Use Military Force -- a frivolous argument we've repeatedly heard the Bush Administration make.
In addition, our bill provides the NSA and Deparment of Justice with new tools and authorizes new funds to streamline emergency warrant application and review -- so the Bush Administration has absolutely no excuse to circumvent this critical legal process.
I hope you'll take just a minute now to contact your Member of Congress, and urge them to join Rep. Conyers and me in enacting the LISTEN Act!
We need to know if terrorists are plotting to attack us -- and no American, Democrat or Republican, disagrees. But we must never, ever retreat from the principle that every wiretap requires a warrant based on probable cause.
For too long, we've heard President Bush justify his decisions to break federal law and violate civil liberties given his "commander-in-chief" role under Article II of the Constitution.
Well he's not the only one with Constitutional authority. Congress has Article I responsibilities, and Rep. Conyers and I, along with many of our colleagues, want to see Congress stand up and exercise them.
The Bush Administration is breaking the law. Americans should no longer have to fear that an overreaching Executive Branch could use their personal information for political purposes. It's time for Congress to act, to stand up as a co-equal branch of government, and to exercise our oversight obligation on behalf of the American people.
Please contact your Member of Congress now, and encourage him or her to help us pass the LISTEN Act!
The LISTEN Act is a critical piece of legislation that ensures both our security and our liberty. We can't live without either.
-- Jane
P.S. I'll stop by later this afternoon/evening to respond to some of your comments. Thanks for your help on this!
UPDATE: Many of you have asked why new legislation is necessary, and why we just don't enforce FISA. It's a good question, but here's why I think we need the LISTEN Act:
The LISTEN Act builds on FISA, confirms Congress’s intentions, and knocks down the Bush Administration’s excuses for breaking the law.
First, the LISTEN Act breaks new ground by telling President Bush that the Authorization to Use Military Force (before the Iraq war) did not give him authority to start warrantless surveillance of Americans. That was not what Congress said, no matter what the White House thinks, and we need to be on record about that.
Second, it gives the Justice Department and NSA additional resources to speed the warrant preparation and approval process. We don’t want the process of obtaining warrants to be any kind of bottleneck or excuse for the Bush Administration to continue circumventing FISA.
That’s why we need the LISTEN Act. It eliminates 2 of the Bush Administration’s excuses for breaking the law, and reconfirms FISA as the sole vehicle for pursuing domestic surveillance.