Fw: Domestic Spying: Tell Senate No Blank Check - FCNL

Well, maybe we can depend on our New York senators to at least vote
correctly on this (I hope).
----- Original Message -----
From: "Joe Volk" <joevolk@fcnl.org>
To: "Miriam Vieni" <miriamvieni@optonline.net>
Sent: Thursday, June 22, 2006 5:12 PM
Subject: Domestic Spying: Tell Senate No Blank Check - FCNL

The Senate is considering dangerous legislation that would permit the
president to spy on people in the U.S. without a warrant, without
accountability to Congress or the courts, and without demonstrating any
connection between the spying activities and national security. The
leading bill (S. 2453), sponsored by committee chair Sen. Arlen Specter
(PA), would also criminalize the release of any Ainside information@
about the spying program by whistle blowers or others who might believe
that the program was operating illegally.

Many members of Congress from both major political parties concluded
earlier this year that the president broke the law when he authorized a
massive domestic spying program that collected the records of every
phone number dialed by nearly 200 million people in this country over
the last five years. Under this new legislation, the president is given
amnesty for his past actions and the National Security Agency would be
permitted to continue its spying program without court review for as
long as the president determines necessary.

The administration has characterized this program as a "terrorist
surveillance program." But this surveillance program does not
focus narrowly on suspect individuals. The new legislation would give
blanket permission for the U.S. government to collect information on
the phone calls of hundreds of millions of ordinary residents in this
country. Relying on this legislation, the president, under some
circumstances could also claim the right to scan the content of
Internet communications and even search homes and offices without a
warrant.

The Senate Judiciary Committee is expected to vote on this legislation
within the next week and then it will come before the full Senate.

TAKE ACTION NOW

Please contact your senators today. Alert them to the danger of the
National Security Surveillance Act (S. 2453) and any other legislation
that allows the president to operate above the law. Senators have the
responsibility to protect the constitutional right of people in the
U.S. to meet together and to express our views freely without becoming
a focus of secret spying by U.S. government agencies. Urge senators to
take this opportunity to speak out against legislation that allows
wholesale spying on people in the U.S. To send and email through our
website and find talking points please visit:
http://capwiz.com/fconl/issues/alert/?alertid=8867941&type=TA

Please consider forwarding this alert to five friends who would be
concerned about privacy and domestic spying and ask them to contact
their senators as well.

BACKGROUND:

In December, the president acknowledged that he had authorized a secret
domestic spying program that tracks overseas telephone calls of U.S.
persons, without warrants. News sources have now revealed that the
program is much broader than the President=s original description B it
has collected the records of every phone number dialed over the last
five years by an estimated 200 million people in this country. This
program, which operates completely without court review, violates the
Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA).

Sen. Specter's bill, S. 2453, would give the president amnesty for his
past actions by adding a new legal basis for spying on U.S. persons:
the "president's inherent authority."

The president has asserted that, as Commander in Chief of the armed
forces, he has Ainherent authority@ to override the clear requirements
of FISA. But that assertion is not widely supported by constitutional
scholars and has been challenged by members of Congress from both major
political parties. As Rep. Gerald Nadler (NY) pointed out during a
recent House debate, "The president is Commander in Chief of the
armed forces, but he is not commander in chief of the United
States."

The FISA statute makes it clear that the president currently does not
have authority to spy on people in the U.S. without a warrant. Congress
has spoken on that issue and has required that all domestic spying be
authorized by a warrant, either from regular courts or from the FISA
court. Minor delays and exceptions were described in the FISA statute
for times of war or other emergency situations. Beyond those
provisions, the president has no authority to violate the Fourth
Amendment.

The legislation being considered by the Senate Judiciary Committee
would give the president that authority, for the first time in U.S.
history.

For more information on the FISA courts and presidential authority see
the June issue of FCNL's Washington Newsletter "Democracy in the
Balance" at http://www.fcnl.org/pubs/nl_preview.htm

See some FCNL's other resources at
http://www.fcnl.org/issues/issue.php?issue_id=80.

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