ACLU Disappointed in Senate Intel Committee Vote on FISA, Wyden/Feingold Amendments Slightly Improve Bad Bill (10/19/2007)
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: (202) 675-2312 or media@dcaclu.org
Washington, DC – The American Civil Liberties Union
is mystified that the Senate Select Intelligence Committee would pass a FISA
bill, drafted with heavy input from the Bush administration, which does not
protect Americans from intrusive domestic spying and creates a path to immunity
for telecommunications executives. However, a small improvement was made as
Senator Ron Wyden (D-OR) and Senator Russell Feingold (D-WI) were successful in
including the addition of a requirement that the government get a warrant when
it targets an American abroad (such as a missionary, business person or
soldier). Now the bill moves to the Senate Judiciary committee.
Caroline Fredrickson, director of the ACLU Washington Legislative Office
said, "Congress bowed to the fear-mongering of the administration, yet again.
Democrats should not capitulate to the administration. Letting the
administration dictate the terms of this legislation once more will only doom us
to repeat the disaster of the Protect America Act."
The ACLU will continue to oppose any immunity deal –
whether for telecom executives or for administration officials. "The
administration is trying to cover its tracks. A dribble of documents provided to
Congress is a case of too little, too late," said ACLU Senior Legislative
Counsel Timothy Sparapani.
"The ACLU will be working to oppose the Senate legislation unless it is
redrafted to include individual warrants for when the government spies on
Americans," said Fredrickson. "Being constitutional is like being pregnant – either you are or you aren’t. And this bill isn’t. "
The public agrees with us: a new poll from the Mellman group found 61 percent
of Americans in favor of requiring the government to get a warrant from a court
before wiretapping conversations U.S. citizens have with people in other
countries, and just 35 percent supported warrantless wiretaps.
Pollster Mark Mellman said, "Support for this constitutional right is both
deep and wide, cutting across demographic subgroups." Seventy-four percent of
Democrats, 60 percent of independents and even 46 percent of Republicans oppose
tapping Americans without a warrant.
For more information on FISA, go to:
www.aclu.org/fisa
To read the poll from the Mellman Group, go to:
http://www.aclu.org/safefree/general/32189leg20071016.html
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