Immediately following the events of September 11th, Congress effectively re-engineered the scope of the American presidency. After handing the executive branch an unprecedented expansion of authority in the form of a new blank check for war, legislators next devised and passed a bill that allowed the U.S. government to spy on its own citizens. This was the USA PATRIOT Act.
The PATRIOT Act was introduced with great haste and passed with little to no debate. Then-Senator Russ Feingold cast the only “no” vote in the Senate,warning the American people that it would sign into law broad power for the government to conduct mass surveillance “under a law that requires minimal judicial supervision” and deeply threatens Constitutional rights. These warnings have proven accurate, as even one of the lead authors of the PATRIOT Act - Rep. Sensenbrenner – has expressed outrage over the mass spying that the law has allowed. Fourteen years later, a key provision of the PATRIOT Act—Section 215—will expire unless Congress votes to continue it. Here’s what you need to know before it comes up for reauthorization on June 1st.
What does the PATRIOT Act do?
The Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism, otherwise known as the USA PATRIOT Act, was passed soon after 9/11. Its 156 sections have been interpreted to authorize wide-sweeping collection of data, wiretaps, and secret searches. Simultaneously, the act strips away important systems of checks and balances that have historically helped protect American civil liberties.
What is Section 215?
One of the most controversial aspects of the PATRIOT Act is Section 215, or the “library provision.” This permits the U.S. government to collect “any tangible thing” deemed relevant to an authorized terrorism investigation. This includes: business documents, tax records, library check-out lists, etc. As Senator Ron Wyden remarked in 2010, “this could potentially permit the government to collect the personal information of large numbers of law-abiding Americans who have no connection to terrorism whatsoever.” In summer of 2013, Edward Snowden, a contractor for the National Security Agency provided a large amount of secret documents to journalists detailing the alarming extent of the government’s mass surveillance. Indeed, in August of 2013, the Obama administration released a White Paper on the legal understanding of the PATRIOT Act that indicated its broad, sweeping spying policies were relevant to national security and that the practice of gleaning Americans’ phone records was in keeping with Section 215 of the PATRIOT Act.
Get more information on Section 215.
What is FCNL doing?
FCNL has historically opposed the PATRIOT Act because it normalizes mass surveillance and erodes civil liberties. Nearly fourteen years later, with Section 215 soon expiring, FCNL is advocating for serious reform to mass surveillance by lobbying Members of Congress to vote against reauthorization of the PATRIOT Act. Instead, we are asking Congress to support the bipartisan Surveillance State Repeal Act (SSRA) introduced by Reps. Mark Pocan (WI) and Thomas Massie (KY). This bill originated with former Member of Congress and Quaker Rush Holt (NJ), and continues to be introduced by his colleagues now that he has left office.
The SSRA is the gold standard for surveillance reform, because it effectively repeals not only the PATRIOT Act, but also other equally problematic authorities that allow for unchecked government spying. Additionally, it sets up protections for whistleblowers to shed light on governmental wrongdoing, and installs necessary protections for American privacy rights. This is the kind of comprehensive course correction that must happen to undo what has been done in the “war on terror” era.
To see a letter that FCNL signed onto, urging for an end to mass surveillance, click here.
What can I do?
FCNL urges you to contact your legislators and urge them to oppose reauthorization of PATRIOT Act Section 215, and instead to co-sponsor the Surveillance State Repeal Act.
