Senate Continues Debate Vote on FISA 702
Senators debated legislation Wednesday reauthorizing Section 702 Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act authority, after Tuesday's 60-38 cloture vote disappointed senators eager to strengthen privacy protections. Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo., cast the last of 18 Democratic votes in favor of cloture with 41 Republicans and one Independent. “I am deeply disappointed by the vote,” said Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah. “The new warrant provisions in this bill are filled with loopholes that any biased government agent can exploit, and tonight’s vote has made it much more likely that improperly obtained private conversations will be used for political gain."
Sign up for a free preview to unlock the rest of this article
Timely, relevant coverage of court proceedings and agency rulings involving tariffs, classification, valuation, origin and antidumping and countervailing duties. Each day, Trade Law Daily subscribers receive a daily headline email, in-depth PDF edition and access to all relevant documents via our trade law source document library and website.
Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., defended the bill on the floor. "This capability is vital to the success of our intelligence operations," he said. The bill doesn't allow targeting of American citizens, he said, urging senators not to deprive the intelligence community of a key tool it needs to fight terrorists.
Senate Majority Whip John Cornyn, R-Texas, also defended the program, saying critics “have mischaracterized many of the components of the law, and frankly their concerns are misplaced.” The section doesn't violate the Fourth Amendment, Cornyn said, and numerous oversight mechanisms ensure the program preserves Americans’ rights: “Large misguided changes to 702 are not the way to go.”
Privacy groups had been hopeful a full debate could proceed with consideration of amendments to address their concerns (see 1801160059). “Members of both parties who voted in favor of this legislation should be sharply rebuked for supporting a bill that is in flagrant violation of the rights enshrined in the Constitution,” said Neema Singh Guliani, American Civil Liberties Union legislative counsel. “Despite the ample evidence that these authorities have been abused, the bill fails to meaningfully restrict the government’s ability to unlawfully sift through the private emails, messages, and other digital communications of individuals without probable cause or approval from a judge.”
The cloture vote “guarantees that this controversial bill will never be debated in public in any meaningful way, and that there will be no opportunity to amend it to include actual reforms to Section 702,” said Robyn Greene, New America’s Open Technology Institute policy counsel and government affairs lead. “Without substantial amendments, this bill is worse than a clean reauthorization with a sunset.” S-139 would renew Section 702 authority for six years, and tightens requirements around searches -- reforms that Greene said is just “fig leaf reform.”
“A real warrant requirement need not put our national security at risk,” said Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., in a floor speech Tuesday seeking extended debate and amendments. Leahy and Lee supported companion legislation to the USA Liberty Act (HR-3989) that the House Judiciary Committee approved November in a bipartisan vote (see 1711080045).