American Civil Liberties Union

Salon's Tim Shorrock posted a pretty interesting story today on a "movement" to investigate the abuses of the Bush Administration – an investigation based largely on the Church Committee.  Clearly I've linked to some background info on the Church Committee but if you're disinclined to follow that link, you should know right off the bat that the Church Committee scrutinized the abuses of the Nixon Administration and those before it, the end result being the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978.  Yes.  That one.

George Washington University law professor Jonathon Turley was on WNYC last week giving us props for filing our FISA lawsuit. He also got into an issue that hasn't had much play yet but certainly will - how journalists and their work will be affected. We at the ACLU already knew that as more than one of our clients is a journalist (in fact, read Chris Hedges' fantastic piece in the Los Angeles Times from last week). Ah, the merging of two of my favorite issues - FISA and protecting the public's right to know.

It’s been a long day so here’s a quick highlight reel from the last few hours:

• Senator Specter introduced his immunity amendment.
• Senator Whitehouse spoke against immunity and described the whole situation as the Bush Administration’s “self-inflicted wound.” Nice.
• Senator Levin spoke in favor of the Bingaman amendment, too. Makes me proud to be from Michigan.
• Senator Chambliss read his speech (for the bill, not shockingly) as quickly and as free from emotion as possible. It was like he was presenting a book report.

Seriously, if one more senator talks about the need for immunity for future cooperation, I’m going to throw my computer out the window. For the 582nd time, FISA requires that telecommunications be legally compelled to hand over information if the proper legal requirements are met. Remember Feingold’s speech this morning?

Yeah, me too. Ever lived it?

The Senate is taking up the FISA Amendments Act once again. Today they'll be debating it on the floor and then they'll vote tomorrow morning. Listen. It doesn't look good. Here's a quick rundown of the first bit of debate.

Senator Cardin spoke first then Senator Feingold came to the floor giving Senator Dodd props on his immunity work. He called the immunity provision a "rigged process" thereby cementing his place in my heart. Feingold also notes that at least 70 senators have not seen the documents outlining the legal underpinnings of the program that the Intelligence and Judiciary committees have had access to.