Senate Judiciary Committee To Blindly Consider NSA Legislation, Fails to Challenge White House Claims of Unlimited Executive Power (6/8/2006)
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: media@dcaclu.org
WASHINGTON – As the Senate Judiciary
Committee prepared to consider legislation today that would effectively approve
the warrantless spying on Americans by the National Security Agency, the
American Civil Liberties Union expressed its strong disapproval that lawmakers
appear ready to accept unprecedented and unconstitutional claims of presidential
powers. On Tuesday, Chairman Arlen
Specter (R-PA) declined to order a hearing with leaders from telecommunications
firms to investigate their involvement with the illegal program.
“Chairman Specter’s current course of
‘action’ in effect surrenders the right of Congress to investigate and oversee
this illegal spying program to the Vice President,” said Caroline Fredrickson,
Director of the ACLU Washington Legislative Office. “By calling off the telecom
hearing in exchange for a vague promise from Vice President Cheney to ‘take a
look’ at surveillance legislation written by Specter, Chairman Specter gives the
White House far too much power over the legislative process. Congress must assert its independence
and be a check on the president, not a rubberstamp.”
The ACLU has urged Congress to delay
consideration of legislation related to the warrantless NSA spying until
Congress has a clear understanding of the scope of the program. On Tuesday, the chairman refused to
notice a hearing with telecom executives and announced that he would not press
for subpoenas while the Vice President considered whether his legislation
infringed on the inherent presidential powers the administration claims
exist. At that meeting, Senate
Specter indicated that the committee would defer to the Vice President’s
objection to holding hearings with telecommunications companies or other
witnesses.
However, on Wednesday, Senator Specter sent a
letter to Vice President Cheney voicing his concerns with both the
administration’s unwillingness to cooperate with the committee and attempts, by
Cheney himself, to pressure members of the Senate Judiciary Committee from
meeting their Constitutional requirements to conduct meaningful
oversight.
“This is turning into a partisan whitewash of
administration wrongdoing,” said Fredrickson. “Our government was designed to have
separate branches – each with its own function and role. Sadly, this executive has usurped power
– and has done so with the blessing of the majority in the national
legislature. We hope that Senator
Specter will hold the administration accountable for their obstruction and
interference.”
The committee today is expected to consider
several pieces of legislation regarding the illegal NSA spying program
authorized by President Bush. Both
Senators Arlen Specter (R-PA) and Mike DeWine (R-OH) had introduced bills that
would effectively ratify the NSA’s illegal eavesdropping on Americans. In addition, Senator Dianne Feinstein
(D-CA) has co-authored a bill with Senator Specter that reiterate that the NSA
program must follow the procedures of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act
(FISA), the law governing national security surveillance of Americans that
provide some privacy protections.
Senator Specter’s “National
Security Surveillance Act” (S.2453) would essentially end any congressional
investigation into the warrantless NSA program by amending FISA to allow the court to approve NSA monitoring of
Americans without any evidence they are conspiring with al Qaeda.
He also has a substitute to that legislation written to
win administration support by amending the criminal code to allow wiretapping at
the direction of the president without any independent check. This move would create a retroactive
exception to criminal liability when warrantless wiretapping is done at the
president’s direction under a claim of inherent authority and make future court
review of surveillance of Americans optional. The bill would also permit the president
to claim a right to conduct secret searches of American homes and businesses in
wartime.
Senator DeWine’s “Terrorist Surveillance
Program Act of 2006” (S. 2455) weakens the probable cause requirement for spying
on ordinary Americans, makes judicial review for seeking a court order optional
and permits the NSA to engage in its surveillance several weeks without any
court oversight at all. Even after
45 days of warrantless surveillance, it would be up to the executive branch to
seek judicial approval or bypass it.
The Feinstein-Specter bill would reinforce
the long-standing principle that electronic surveillance of Americans must be
“conducted pursuant to individualized court orders,” as outlined in FISA and
other federal statutes. The bill,
S. 3001, the “Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Improvement and Enhancement Act
of 2006,” would also streamline the administrative procedures used before
seeking approval of the FISA court.
The ACLU has urged Congress to reject any
attempts to amend FISA to ratify the NSA’s spying on Americans until the
administration provides lawmakers with the information needed to conduct
oversight. Thus far, the White
House and it allies have stonewalled Congress.
In addition to its legislative efforts, the
ACLU has also challenged the NSA’s warrantless wiretapping program in federal
court. In legal papers submitted
late Monday, the ACLU argued to a federal court in Detroit that the NSA's spying
program is unconstitutional and violates FISA. The court will hear arguments in the case
on Monday, June 12.
Also late Monday, the ACLU filed papers with
the Federal Communications Commission pointing out that the agency cannot permit
a pending merger between AT&T and BellSouth without investigating the merits
of allegations that these companies illegally provided customer information to
the NSA.
“The administration has continued to conceal
from the public critical information about its surveillance of the people in
this country,” said Lisa Graves, ACLU Senior Counsel for Legislative
Strategy. “The bills the committee
is expected to consider would reward stonewalling by the administration and put
a stamp of approval on an illegal program that violates Americans’ right to
privacy. We urge the committee to
reject these terrible proposals that give the president a virtual blank check to
monitor Americans.”
For
more on the ACLU’s concerns with the warrantless NSA eavesdropping program, go
to:
www.aclu.org/nsaspying
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