TalkLeft is
reporting that a bipartisan group of Senators have asked Specter to slow down on gutting FISA:
A bipartisan group of senators has sent a letter to Judiciary Committee Chairman Arlen Specter (R-PA) urging him to hold additional hearings before taking action on legislation regarding the NSA warrantless electronic surveillance program. In their letter, Senators Craig, Durbin, Sununu, Feingold, Murkowski, and Salazar express serious concerns about Specter's bill to authorize the NSA program.
TalkLeft has a pdf of the letter, which states, in part:
We believe that additional information is necessary before the Senate can responsibly consider legislation that would dramatically alter FISA and significantly expand the surveillance authority of the executive branch. ... We are concerned by provisions in the newest version of your bill that suggest that the executive branch could conduct wiretaps and physical searches without the court orders currently required by FISA, and that would amend FISA to authorize "program warrants." In addition, we believe that Congress needs far more information about the newest section of your bill, which contains numerous complex amendments to FISA that appear to rewrite that law significantly.
The Judiciary Committee is set to take up several bills today, including Specter's S. 2543 2453, legislation he wrote with Cheney that would essentially gut FISA. Although only Durbin and Feingold are the only Judiciary Committee members signed on to the letter, it shows that any FISA amendment is likely to face serious, bipartisan opposition once it's out of committee. It's also encouraging that such conservative stalwarts as Craig and Murkowski are concerned about Specter's willingness to cede Congressional oversight on the issue.
This is an important development, particulalry now that the administration is arguing in federal court that their violation of FISA really isn't a violation at all:
It has been widely assumed that the government has acknowledged that the surveillance program violates the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, a 1978 law that requires the government to obtain a warrant from a secret court before wiretapping the international communications of Americans for national security purposes.
"We don't agree," the lawyer, Anthony J. Coppolino, said, "that the government has specifically conceded that point." He added that the question could not be answered without endangering national security. . . . Judge Lynch was taken aback by the shift in tactics. "This is the first time," he said, "that I have understood that the government is taking the position that it is a contested issue whether this violates FISA."
With the administration arguing even more forcefully that they are completely above the law, it's good to see that a few Senators are signalling a willingness to take back the reins. But they need reinforcement. Call your Senators and ask them to join with Senators Craig, Durbin, Sununu, Feingold, Murkowski, and Salazar in demanding Specter hold investigative hearings before amending FISA.
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