ACLU Asks Majority Leader Reid to Allow the Senate to Vote for Fourth Amendment Protections, Cheers Senators Who Take a Stand Against Immunity (12/12/2007)
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: (202) 675-2312 or media@dcaclu.org
Washington, DC -- The American Civil Liberties Union is calling on Senate
Majority Leader Harry Reid to allow the Senate to vote for the Judiciary
Committee’s FISA bill without letting the Bells off the hook.
"We implore Senator Reid to lead," said Caroline Fredrickson, director of the
ACLU Washington Legislative Office. "Reid has set up a Catch-22 that forces
senators to choose either no immunity for the telecoms or minimal Fourth
Amendment protections – but not both at the same time.
The ACLU is not ready to accept the two current options as the only
possibilities. The American people should not have to choose between telecom
immunity and warrantless wiretapping."
Fredrickson explained that Senator Reid employed a little-used Senate rule
– Rule Fourteen – to bring up
two different FISA bills taken from legislation passed by the Senate
Intelligence and Judiciary Committees. The first bill, S. 2440, will be Titles 1
and 3 of the intelligence bill and does not include telecom immunity. The
second, S. 2441, will be Titles 1 of the judiciary bill and 2 and 3 of the
intelligence bill, which does include immunity. She explained that from
the ACLU’s perspective, "Another way to think of it: S 2440 is good on immunity
and bad on wiretapping while S. 2441 is bad on immunity but good on wiretapping.
It looks as though Senator Reid has created two little FISA Frankensteins."
The ACLU urges senators to vote against the Intelligence Committee bill,
anything resembling the Protect America Act or any bill that grants immunity to
telecommunications companies that broke the law over the past six years. Today a
group of 14 senators urged Senator Reid to take up the Judiciary bill as it
stands with no immunity provision. We are also asking senators to participate in
the Dodd filibuster measure against any bill that lets the Bells off the hook.
"Senator Reid is forcing senators to trade the Fourth Amendment to avoid
immunity or to give immunity in order to protect Fourth Amendment rights. The
ACLU, on behalf its members across this country, asks that he bring the
Judiciary Committee’s FISA bill to the floor -- without immunity for companies
that broke the law," said Fredrickson.
If you want more information, visit our website at
www.aclu.org/fisa
To see the ACLU's polling information on telecom immunity, go
to:
http://www.aclu.org/images/general/asset_upload_file47_32189.pdf
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