Feb. 15 Deadline on Senate Spying Showdown

The presidential primary races are grabbing the headlines. But the U.S. Senate’s debate over new rules for spying on Americans is heading for a Feb. 15 showdown. Voting starts Monday, Feb. 4, on key amendments to a surveillance bill that would:

- Hold telecom companies accountable for turning over customer data without warrants

- Require individual warrants

- Ban deceptive data collection

The amendments to the new FISA bill are backed by Sens. Russ Feingold, Patrick Leahy, and Christopher Dodd. But California Sen. Dianne Feinstein is still on the fence. She has proposed letting the secret FISA court decide whether lawsuits against telecoms can go forward. With the Senate evenly split on these amendments, she could hold the key vote.

Call Senator Dianne Feinstein’s Washington, D.C., office and urge her to stand up for a constitutional FISA! (202) 224-3841

Sample message:

“As a California constituent, I urge Senator Feinstein to vote in favor of all the Leahy, Feingold and Dodd amendments in the Senate Intelligence Committee FISA bill (S. 2248) to improve wiretapping protections. If these amendments are not accepted, I urge her to vote NO on the final passage of the FISA bill.

Congress has one chance to get this right and must act to ensure that safeguards to our civil liberties are put into any bill that passes. Thank you.”

What do these amendments mean?

No Telecom Immunity: The current Senate bill blocks lawsuits against telecom companies that violated their customer agreements and state and federal law by turning over customer data to the government without warrants. This amendment would strip that provision, and give us a chance to learn the truth about the Bush Administration’s warrantless wiretapping program.

Stop the Use of Illegal Information: Prohibits the government from using information obtained without a warrant or by other illegal means.

Individual Warrants Only: Requires the government to certify to the FISA court that it is collecting communications of individual targets for whom there is a foreign intelligence interest, not collective communications of Americans.

No Deceptive Data Collection: Prohibits the government from getting a warrant to wiretap an international suspect in order to gather information about someone living in the U.S. without a warrant.

These amendments require a simple majority of 51 votes to pass, and that’s why Sen. Feinstein’s vote really matters.

Voting on these amendments will start Monday, Feb. 4. It is critical that Sen. Feinstein hears from us now. Ask her to support the Leahy, Feingold and Dodd amendments to S. 2248.

Call her today at (202) 224-3841.

No Amnesty for Law-Breaking Telecom Companies

AT&T, Verizon and other telecom companies have been handing over our private records to the government for years without a warrant, without our consent — and counter to California law.

And rather than standing up for our Constitutional right to privacy, Sen. Dianne Feinstein, as a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, may agree with the Committee’s Chair, Jay Rockefeller (D-WV), to give these phone giants amnesty and immunity for their wrongdoing.

This is just flat out wrong.

A year ago, the ACLU-SC along with our other California affiliates filed a lawsuit on behalf of 17 individual plaintiffs and more than 100,000 ACLU members statewide against AT&T and Verizon to stop them from participating in the NSA’s illegal wiretapping program. If the Senate votes the wrong way on Thursday, our case and many others like it will be dismissed without our day in court.

Please join us in two actions:

1. Sign a letter the ACLU, MoveOn.org, the Electronic Frontier Foundation plus a dozen of the top progressive bloggers have written urging Majority Leader Harry Reid to use his position in the Senate to uphold the rule of law and the US Constitution. Sign the letter at http://action.openleft.com/page/petition/immunity

Then,

2. Call Sen. Dianne Feinstein as one of her constituents and ask if she will oppose any FISA legislation that will include retroactive immunity for the telecom companies as a member of the Judiciary Committee, and urge her to uphold her oath to support and defend the Constitution. See this action at: http://ga1.org/campaign/telecomimmunity

Say No to the Blanket Blather: Call Congress Now

Blankets, baskets, bundles, blah blah blah. There’s a lot of blather in Congress about how ignoring the 4th Amendment will make us safer.

Instead of demanding individual warrants for wiretaps as required by the Constitution, some members of Congress are backing a bill that will allow surveillance of Americans who aren’t even suspected of doing anything wrong.

The RESTORE Act (Responsible Electronic Surveillance that is Overseen, Reviewed and Effective Act of 2007) is supposed to fix Congress’ mistake in passing the Protect America Act last August, which granted our government the authority to wiretap ANYONE, including US citizens, without court approval.

The RESTORE Act includes a number of safeguards and auditing provisions for American citizens, but it also introduces what are called “blanket” or “basket” orders for surveillance that cover a whole class of targets rather than individual warrants for individual targets.

Join the ACLU to tell Southern California members of Congress to follow the 4th Amendment and reject the blanket blather

Hey, Congress! Will You Commit to the Constitution?

The Campaign for Our Constitution is teaming up with the ACLU’s Don’t Wait for ’08 plot to put all 535 members of Congress on the record by Jan. 1, 2008, by asking a simple question: Will you defend the Constitution? Here’s what we mean:

- Ending rampant surveillance and warrantless spying on Americans.

- Shutting down Guantanamo Bay and giving those held there access to justice.

- Restoring habeas corpus and due process.

- Stopping torture and extraordinary rendition, the practice of secretly kidnapping people and sending them to countries that torture.

- Bringing back checks and balances, because the executive branch needs oversight.

Urge your Representative and Senators to commit to defending the Constitution and fighting the Bush administration’s politics of fear. Send them a free fax or e-mail today.

What's the best way for you to help defend the Constitution?

Organizations have clout when they can boast high membership numbers and can deliver activists who work to put pressure on politicians and the media. That’s the reality.

The Campaign for Our Constitution is intended to bring together both staunch civil libertarians and brand new supporters to the cause. We have enlisted coalition partners from all walks of life and intend to create a community that will champion liberty, freedom and justice.

Our cause will be won through education, activation and legislation. Join us by signing up for events, inviting your friends and showing up. Take it a step further and join the organizations featured in this site and become a “card carrying member” of the ACLU of Southern California.

Finally, help out by suggesting things for our members to do. Send us an e-mail. We’re in this together.