Wiretapping

September 30, 2009 -- As he announced earlier this week, Senator Chris Dodd (D-CT) introduced the Retroactive Immunity Repeal Act, legislation that eliminates retroactive immunity for telecommunications companies that allegedly participated in President Bush’s warrantless wiretapping program.    » read more »

Washington -- 26 June 2008 -- Legislation to revise U.S. surveillance law survived a key test vote in the Senate Wednesday, despite opposition from some majority Democrats to a provision protecting telephone companies from possible privacy lawsuits. The Senate could give final approval to the bill and send it to President Bush for his signature before a congressional recess next week.

Senators voted 80 to 15 to proceed to the legislation - 20 more than the 60 votes necessary under Senate rules.

The bill, which updates the 1978 Foreign Surveillance Intelligence Act (FISA), would expand the government's powers to eavesdrop on terrorism suspects while at the same time take steps to safeguard civil liberties.    » read more »

June 6, 2008 -- Washington, DC – Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and senior member of the Senate Judiciary Committee Joseph R. Biden, Jr. (D-DE) issued the following statement today after news reports indicated that Senator McCain supports President Bush’s wire-tapping program:

John McCain: Photo by Christy Frink (CC)    » read more »

12 February 2008 -- The U.S. Senate Tuesday voted to renew a controversial surveillance law set to expire at the end of the week. Lawmakers left intact a provision to shield telephone companies from lawsuits for their role in the Bush administration's wiretap program, despite opposition from many Democrats.

The Senate voted to extend a law which authorizes U.S. intelligence agencies to monitor - without warrants - telephone calls and emails between Americans and suspected terrorists overseas.    » read more »

January 24, 2008 -- (Washington, DC) - The White House has agreed to provide the House Judiciary and Intelligence Committees access to classified documents concerning the NSA warrantless wiretapping program. As applied to the Judiciary committee, ten Democratic members, nine Republican members, and staff with appropriate security clearance would be "read into" the program next week and have access to documents including legal memoranda about the program and communications with telephone companies. House Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers, Jr. (D-MI) released the following statment:    » read more »

Legislation would require an Inspector General of the Administration’s warrantless wiretapping program

January 24, 2008 -- (As Prepared for Delivery)    » read more »

January 23, 2008 -- Washington, DC – In anticipation of the debate on the FISA bill, Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) took to the Senate Floor today to discuss two amendments that she plans on offering.

* The first amendment would ensure that the federal government must follow the requirements of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978 (FISA) when conducting electronic surveillance of American citizens for foreign intelligence purposes.    » read more »

Washington, DC -- January 24, 2008 - U.S. Senators Arlen Specter (R-Pa.) and Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) today introduced an amendment to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act currently pending on the floor. The amendment would substitute the United States in place of any electronic communication service provider who provided communications in connection with an intelligence activity that was (1) authorized by the President between September 11, 2001, and January 17, 2007, and (2) designed to detect or prevent a terrorist attack against the United States.    » read more »

November 5, 2007 -- Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal and law enforcement officials from four other states have asked the U.S. Senate to reject retroactive immunity for telecommunications companies that let the federal government snoop on private telephone calls without warrants.

Blumenthal, with the Vermont, Maine and New Jersey attorneys general and the Missouri public safety commissioner, submitted testimony last week to the Senate Judiciary Committee urging it to reject immunity.    » read more »

10/24/2007 -- LOS ANGELES, CA-- New Mexico Governor and Democratic Presidential candidate Bill Richardson today issued the following statement, calling for the United States Senate to stand up to President Bush and reject the proposed bill granting immunity to telephone companies that assisted the government in spying on Americans:    » read more »

August 20, 2007 -- "Today was the deadline for the Administration to comply with the Judiciary Committee’s subpoenas for documents related to the legal justifications for and President’s authorization of the warrantless wiretapping program. The Administration failed to adequately comply, despite our granting an extension of more than a month past the original return date. The Administration has produced no documents, no adequate basis for noncompliance, no privilege claims, and no complete privilege log.    » read more »

20 August 2007 -- The Democratic chairman of the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee, Senator Patrick Leahy of Vermont, has threatened to hold members of the Bush administration in contempt for withholding documents subpoenaed by his panel. The administration did not meet a Monday deadline for handing over information about the legal justification for its wiretapping program.    » read more »

August 16, 2007 -- Washington, DC — Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi today sent President Bush the following letter, requesting that the President provide all documents and other information sought by the House and Senate Judiciary and Intelligence Committees in order to conduct oversight of the implementation of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA):

August 16, 2007

The President
The White House
Washington, DC 20500

Dear Mr. President:    » read more »

August 14, 2007 -- Washington, D.C. — Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid sent the following letter today to Senators Jay Rockefeller and Pat Leahy, encouraging them to develop long-term modernizations to FISA that better serve our national security interests than the law signed by President Bush this month:

August 14, 2007

The Honorable John D. Rockefeller IV
Chairman, Senate Select Committee on Intelligence
Washington, DC 20510

The Honorable Patrick J. Leahy
Chairman, Senate Committee on the Judiciary
Washington, DC 20510

Dear Jay and Pat:    » read more »

SAN FRANCISCO, Aug. 10—The president of the American Bar Association today called on Congress to scrap a week-old law expanding the government’s power to eavesdrop on U.S. citizens.

Karen J. Mathis, president of the nation’s largest lawyers’ association, also said that most Americans have gradually come to see the importance of preserving constitutional liberties, even as the struggle against terrorist violence continues.    » read more »