Giveaway of Fourth Amendment Rights: House Approves Unconstitutional
Surveillance Legislation
Fourth Amendment: guards against searches, arrests, and seizures of
property without a specific warrant or a "probable cause" to believe a
crime has been committed. Some rights to privacy have been inferred
from this amendment and others by the Supreme Court.
Washingon DC. Following a vote in the House of Representatives
sanctioning warrantless wiretapping and handing immunity to
telecommunications companies for their role in domestic spying, the
American Civil Liberties Union expressed outrage at representatives
who voted for the unconstitutional legislation. The bill, H.R. 6304,
or The FISA Amendments Act of 2008, passed the chamber by a vote of
293 (yes) -129 (no), and is expected to be voted on in the Senate next
week.
Caroline Fredrickson, director of the ACLU's Washington Legislative
Office said: "It's Christmas morning at the White House thanks to this
vote. The House just wrapped up some expensive gifts for the
administration and their buddies at the phone companies.
Watching the House fall to scare tactics and political maneuvering is
especially infuriating given the way it stood up to pressure from the
president on this same issue just months ago. In March we thought the
House leadership had finally grown a backbone by rejecting the
Senate's FISA bill. Now we know they will not stand up for the
Constitution.
"No matter how often the opposition calls this bill a 'compromise,' it
is not a meaningful compromise, except of our constitutional rights.
The bill allows for mass, untargeted and unwarranted surveillance of
all communications coming in to and out of the United States.
The courts' role is superficial at best, as the government can
continue spying on our communications even after the FISA court has
objected. Democratic leaders turned what should have been an easy
FISA fix into the wholesale giveaway of our Fourth Amendment rights.
"More than two years after the president's domestic spying was
revealed in the pages of the New York Times, Congress' fury and shock
has dissipated to an obedient whimper. After scrambling for years to
cover their tracks, the phone companies and the administration are
almost there. This immunity provision will effectively destroy
Americans' chance to have their deserved day in court and will kill
any possibility of learning the extent of the administration's lawless
actions.
The House should be ashamed of itself. The fate of the Fourth
Amendment is now in the Senate's hands. We can only hope senators
will show more courage than their colleagues in the House."
by the American Civil Liberties Union, and further credit to Privacy World - The WORLD'S SHREWDEST PRIVACY NEWSLETTER |
