Posted on 01/30/2008 2:50:09 PM PST by BGHater
A bill to extend the Protect America Act of 2007 for 30 Days
Madame Speaker, I rise in opposition to the extension of the Protect America Act of 2007 because the underlying legislation violates the US Constitution.
The mis-named Protect America Act allows the US government to monitor telephone calls and other electronic communications of American citizens without a warrant. This clearly violates the Fourth Amendment, which states:
“The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.”
The Protect America Act sidelines the FISA Court system and places authority over foreign surveillance in the director of national intelligence and the attorney general with little if any oversight. While proponents of this legislation have argued that the monitoring of American citizens would still require a court-issued warrant, the bill only requires that subjects be "reasonably believed to be outside the United States ." Further, it does not provide for the Fourth Amendment protection of American citizens if they happen to be on the other end of the electronic communication where the subject of surveillance is a non-citizen overseas.
We must remember that the original Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act was passed in 1978 as a result of the U.S. Senate investigations into the federal government’s illegal spying on American citizens. Its purpose was to prevent the abuse of power from occurring in the future by establishing guidelines and prescribing oversight to the process. It was designed to protect citizens, not the government. The effect seems to have been opposite of what was intended. These recent attempts to “upgrade” FISA do not appear to be designed to enhance protection of our civil liberties, but to make it easier for the government to spy on us!
The only legitimate “upgrade” to the original FISA legislation would be to allow surveillance of conversations that begin and end outside the United States between non-US citizens where the telephone call is routed through the United States . Technology and the global communications market have led to more foreign to foreign calls being routed through the United States . This adjustment would solve the problems outlined by the administration without violating the rights of US citizens.
While I would not oppose technical changes in FISA that the intelligence community has indicated are necessary, Congress should not use this opportunity to chip away at even more of our constitutional protections and civil liberties. I urge my colleagues to oppose this and any legislation that violates the Fourth Amendment of the Constitution.
I don't really mind, both pollers have been pleasant young people, but it seemed really an odd use of the money he raised.
If it prevents the next 9/11, I’m all for it.
You were just bitching last week that Paul should drop out, Dwight N00b. What gives?
Your tin foil is loose, Liz Clairborne.
It must suck to go through life so scared. Live a bit. Life's too short to be freaked out by terrorists.
In this case, tin foil is your forte, not mine,
And how will you know if it has?
(hint: our government will tell us)
This adjustment would solve the problems outlined by the administration without violating the rights of US citizens.
Pretty good chance those callers are volunteers. I know someone who is a precinct captain who is doing the same thing for free.
They may all be mad hatters but you can’t deny they give to the campaign, they volunteer, they know how to work the various state primary and caucus systems, they practically own the freaking internet and they’ve widened the discussion. Would the other candidate have been talking about us borrowing from the Chinese if Paul was not in the race?
You keep using Voltaire’s quote. If you don’t like the Constitutions protections for US Citizens, work to repeal them. Don’t just pen legislation that side-steps or outright violates the Constitutions limits.
Anything else is either power grabs or political brinkmanship.
It is dangerous to be right in matters where established men are wrong.
If you don't like the Constitution, there is a process for changing it. It isn't perfect, but it does work.
Anything else destroys the basis for the document itself and reduces respect for the rule of law.
Didn't say any of that, I said I don't agree with Paul's view of it. He is not the messiah of the Constitution, in my view, he is akin to Fred Phelps preaching about the Christianity, just because he repeats it over and over, doesn't mean he truly follows it. You all act like Paul is the perfect translator of the Constitution and everything must be weighed against his interpertation. No offense, but this is cult like behavior.
You may not like it, but facts are stubborn things. The Constitution GIVES the FedGov only specifically enumerated powers. Anything beyond that is off limits. You may be just fine with them arbitrarily expanding those limits absent the Amendment process, but don't pretend you are any better than Kennedy et al when you do...
Again, you are creating a false view of what I've said and believe. I believe in following the Constitution strictly, I don't believe Paul is. I believe Paul is cherry picking the Constitution to make his points. He starts with his idea first then finds in the Constitution what he thinks supports it and claiming (as you seem to be) that if someone doesn't believe in his cherry picking of the Constitution, they don't believe in the Constitution. That is BS.
Is it illegal to wire tap a US Citizens phone line without a warrant? Yes, or no. Don't prevaricate or change the terms of the question to weasel the answer. A Yes or No is all that is required.
If Yes, then Paul is right.
If No, then you'd better be able to show EXACTLY where in the Constitution the FedGov was explicitly given this power. Be sure to provide the proper citations.
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