Wyden & Feingold team up to propose overhaul of the Patriot Act
Kari Chisholm
Late last week, Senator Ron Wyden joined Senator Russ Feingold (D-WI) - and a group of seven other Senators - to sponsor a rewrite and a fix for the PATRIOT Act.
There's been almost zero news coverage of the move. None locally, and Agence France-Presse (AFP) was the only wire service to cover the announcement.
The bill, amusingly called the JUSTICE Act (the Judicious Use of Surveillance Tools In Counterterrorism Efforts Act), would overhaul the worst provisions of the PATRIOT Act.
A group of US Senators unveiled legislation Thursday aiming to strip telecommunications firms that took part in a hugely controversial Bush-era spying program of immunity from lawsuits.The bill aims to "fix problems with surveillance laws that threaten the rights and liberties of American citizens" without crippling the government's ability to track suspected terrorists, the lawmakers said in a joint statement.
The legislation would affect the way the US government can search Americans' personal records, conduct wiretapping, and otherwise collect and use information on US citizens.
Among the provisions sure to grab attention, it revisits a secret program launched by former president George W. Bush after the September 11, 2001 attacks that collected sensitive information for years without a court order.
Senator Patrick Leahy (D-VT) announced that he'll be holding a hearing in the Judiciary Committee on Wednesday to discuss the bill.
An excerpt from the Senators' statement:
The JUSTICE Act reforms include more effective checks on government searches of Americans’ personal records, the “sneak and peek” search provision of the PATRIOT Act, “John Doe” roving wiretaps and other overbroad authorities. The bill will also reform the FISA Amendments Act, passed last year, by repealing the retroactive immunity provision, preventing “bulk collection” of the contents of Americans’ international communications, and prohibiting “reverse targeting” of innocent Americans. And the bill enables better oversight of the use of National Security Letters (NSLs) after the Department of Justice Inspector General issued reports detailing the misuse and abuse of the NSLs.
Senator Wyden:
“The JUSTICE Act rights some of the basic wrongs of the PATRIOT Act, which became a poster child for the Bush Administration’s lack of respect for Americans’ privacy rights,” said Wyden. “This bill is designed to keep every law-abiding American free from arbitrary government surveillance. At the same time, it gives law enforcement the agility needed to go after actual terrorists and spies who would do our country harm.”
On his official website, Senator Wyden has posted the full release and a fact sheet that explains that various proposals.
Update: Here's the link to the full text of S.1686 and the bill status. I see from the bill status that Senator Jeff Merkley signed on as a co-sponsor on the very first day. That's excellent news.
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11:33 p.m.
Sep 21, '09
[Full disclosure: My firm built Senator Wyden's campaign website. I speak only for myself.]
11:36 p.m.
Sep 21, '09
By the way, here's the full list of Senators on the bill so far: Ron Wyden (D-OR), Russ Feingold (D-WI), Dick Durbin (D-IL), Jon Tester (D-MT), Tom Udall (D-NM), Jeff Bingaman (D-NM), Bernie Sanders (I-VT), Robert Menendez (D-NJ), Jeff Merkley (D-OR) and Daniel Akaka (D-HI)
I'm not sure what it means, but I think it means something that six of the ten are from the West.
6:30 a.m.
Sep 22, '09
A textbook liberal idea, undoing damage to personal liberty in America - love it.
Sep 22, '09
Reinstating the Bill of Rights Act would have been a better name.
Sep 22, '09
Kari, thanks so much for posting this story!!
11:18 a.m.
Sep 23, '09
In the committee hearings, we were just treated to a scene with Al Franken reading the fourth amendment to the DOJ official arguing for executive power retention. The DOJ guy commented that this was "just surreal".
I mean, just imagine, on the specifics of "sneak and peak" unwarranted and secret surveillance; out of 763 incidents, 760 were used against suspected drug traffickers and 3 were used against suspected Terris.
Reminds one of the original constituting of the FISA court back in the late '70s.
At least Feingold, Franken and a couple of others are at the barricades on this one.
Sep 23, '09
One more demonstration that Al Franken is just a stupid entertainer.
Why in the world is the Obama Administration trying to reauthorize the Patriot Act anyway? Power is sure seductive....
Sep 23, '09
Wyden needs to concern himself with solving our immigration problems first and foremost. He needs to get on the same side of the issues as the majority of oregonians and americans instead of being a simple minded shill and raging Neo-Com
5:14 a.m.
Sep 25, '09
That twitter feed is really inane.
<h2>Why do you say these are the worst aspects of the so-called PATRIOT Act? Personally I'd say the definition of "domestic terrorism" is one of the worst. And in the provisions in question, I'm skeptical that "less bas" is necessarily a "fix."</h2>