72 Democrats Challenge Illegal NSA Domestic Spying
By Rep. John Conyers, http://www.dailykos.com
Last night, I filed an amicus brief with 71 other Democratic Members of Congress in two cases challenging the Bush Administration's illegal warrantless domestic spying.
It is very disturbing that, on the same day we learn that the NSA has been secretly collecting the phone records of tens of millions of Americans, we also learn that the Department of Justice has abruptly cancelled its investigation into the Agency's warrantless wiretapping program. These developments clearly point to the urgent need for oversight and review of this program. Congress has failed to provide this critical oversight which has led us to the courts.
Our brief makes clear that nearly 30 years ago Congress addressed the issue facing us today and determined that warrantless domestic spying on American soil is flatly prohibited. This is not a new concern. Warrantless wiretapping of U.S. citizens was exposed as a serious problem in the mid-1970s. The Church Committee investigated this activity for years receiving testimony from hundreds of witnesses, issuing 14 reports and collecting over 50,000 pages of records. The result? With support from the National Security Agency (NSA), Congress carefully crafted the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) to require that any intelligence agency wiretap activity must be approved by a FISA court. To this date, that law stands as the exclusive and exhaustive authority to wiretap Americans in the name of fighting terrorism.
Our brief filing is supported by the public statements of former NSA Director Bobby Ray Inman who has come forward to confirm that the Administration failed to obey the law with its warrantless eavesdropping. Having led the NSA when the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act was drafted, Inman declared "this activity is not authorized." He is right. Congress never authorized it and the Authorization for Use of Military Force against Afghanistan did not provide the President the sweeping authority he is now claiming.
The cases ACLU v. NSA and CCR v. Bush are pending in Detroit and New York, and the plaintiffs are seeking summary judgment and an injunction against the government to stop the program immediately. The government must file its responses by the end of next week in both cases.
I am very encouraged that, in a very short period of time, a strong showing of House Democrats joined me in this legal challenge. This success follows the court case against the administration's unconstitutional passage of the DRA, in which the top ranking Democrats from 8 Committees joined me as plaintiffs. These actions underscore our commitment as Democrats to right the wrongs of this administration and to do so with cohesiveness and determination.
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2006/5/11/133815/500
- Login or register to post comments
-
- Email this page
- Printer-friendly version
- Spotlight this page
www.VelvetRevolution.us
This is Absolutely Outrageous
We were told that the wiretapping was related only to INTERNATIONAL calls to or from TERROIST SUSPECTS.
A typical neo-con double punch:
Massive violation of the Constitution, followed by a Massive bout of lying when questioned on the issue.
I DEMAND MY RIGHTS!! WHERE IS THE PROBABLE CAUSE?? HOW DARE THEY DO THIS!! I AM SO ABSOLUTELY LIVID I AM NOT CERTAIN I WILL BE ABLE TO FINISH THEY DAY AT WORK!!!
THEY ARE USING MY TAX DOLLARS, TO INTERFERE WITH MY RIGHTS, IN AN ILLEGAL MANNER, INTERRUPTING THE TELEPHONE SERVICE I PAY FOR.
THE PRESIDENT IS NOT ABOVE THE LAW!
THE CONSTITUTION IS UNDER ATTACK!
JAIL TO THE TRAITORS!
THIS HAS GONE VERY MUCH TOO GODDAMNED FAR.
I DEMAND THAT MY CONGRESS TAKE IMMEDIATE ACTION TO ADDRESS THIS OUTRAGEOUS ASSAULT ON THE AMERICAN WAY OF LIFE!
Basis For Your Outrage
The Declaration of Independence:
"But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security..."
---The Bikemessenger