dslreports logo
 story category
Huge Debate Set Over FISA Re-Authorization
Congress Trampling Constitution and None of Them Care

Back in 2008 Congress passed the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA), which not only retroactively gave the government a pass for years of illegal spying on its own citizens, but gave broadband ISPs a get out of jail free card for helping them. FISA is expected to see renewal this month, with the only real debate being for how long to extend the law. While the House has passed a measure that would extend the law for five years, a Senate committee is pushing to have the law extended by three years.

The only problem with all of this? None of it is Constitutional. Judge Andrew Napolitano has posted an interesting piece over at Reason noting how the entire creation of the closed-door rubber-stamping FISA court violates the Fourth Amendment, and nobody in politics seems to care. It's a failure of leadership across the board, argues Napolitano, who notes FISA is a huge threat to the public moving forward:

quote:
Moreover, everyone in Congress has taken an oath to uphold the Constitution, which could not be more clear: "The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects..." shall not be violated, except via a warrant issued by a neutral judge upon the judge finding probable cause of crime. If we let Congress, which is a creature of the Constitution, change the Constitution, then no one's liberty or property is safe, and freedom is dependent upon the political needs of those in power.

The President and the leadership of both political parties in both houses of Congress have abandoned their oaths to uphold the Constitution. They have claimed that foreigners and their American communicants are committed to destroying the country and only the invasion of everyone's right to privacy will keep us safe. They are violating the privacy of us all to find the communications of a few. Who will keep us safe from them?
And while Napolitano notes how government surveillance has gotten entirely out of control, he doesn't even touch on this week's revelations that the government is now essentially vacuuming up all non-criminal data on every U.S. citizen just in case they might be able to predict a crime before it happens.

Most recommended from 33 comments


clone (banned)
join:2000-12-11
Portage, IN

3 recommendations

clone (banned)

Member

Blanket Post

...so all the others usual suspects don't have to:

- If you have nothing to hide don't worry about it.
- DOMESTIC TERRORISMS!!!!
- Privacy is dead, get over it you luddite anachronism
- As long as you keep the boogeyman (of the week) away, I'm fine with this
- AL QAEDAS!!!!
- Illegal spying has always been going on, so that makes it A-OK.
- But, 9/11.
- The 4th Amendment only states papers and effects. Electronic spying is therefore not protected against.
- No one is forcing you to use the internet or phone or whatever.
- Why do you hate America?
- No one cares who you talk to or what you do if you're not a terrorist. (Until whatever you do is retroactively made illegal)

If I forgot any, feel free to add them to the "Official Apologist List"