Unfortunately, the House passed the Bill and it has been sent to the Senate for a Vote.
Now is the time to call your Senator and implore them not to pass this bill! We cannot allow these telecom companies to have such immunity. This is our privacy and if it is passed we might as well kiss the 4th Amendment of the Constitution away. Call them today!
The bill gives the green light for unchecked domestic spying going forward by creating loopholes for the president.
The bill also gives blanket immunity. Courts are directed to look only at whether telecom companies got a note from the president, rather than considering if these companies actually broke the law.
While it is designed to make it look like there is a judicial process for companies accused of illegally handing over millions of phone calls and emails to the government, it really turns the court into nothing more than a rubber stamp.
This plan is completely unacceptable. It is not a compromise on immunity; it's blanket immunity. I urge you to reject it.
Here's how such proposals would offer blanket immunity in three steps:
1. Lawsuits are sent to court. Either a district court (as House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer has recently suggested), or the FISA court (as Senator Kit Bond suggested).
2. When the lawsuits get to court, Congress gives very specific instructions to the judge: if a telecom company got a note from the Bush administration merely claiming it was legal to participate in the warrantless spying program, let them off the hook without looking at whether or not they actually violated any laws.
3. Since telecom companies did get notes from the White House saying their behavior was legal, according to the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, the judge must dismiss the lawsuit.
You don't just have to take my word for it. I hope you will read this letter from Senators Dodd and Feingold that explains this sham court review in more detail:
http://action.aclu.org/doddfeingold
Instead of looking at whether or not companies had a pass from the White House, courts need to look at whether the telecoms actually broke the law. If there are no consequences for illegal behavior, telecom companies will have no incentive to follow the laws Congress passes in the future.
| Senator (D-Maryland) Barbara A. Mikulski's Office | |
| Phone: (202) 224-4654 | |
| District Phone: (410) 962-4510 |
| Senator (D-Maryland) Benjamin 'Ben' L. Cardin's Office | |
| Phone: (202) 224-4524 | |
| District Phone: (410) 962-4436 |
Call Today!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
People shouldn't waste their time. Sens. Dodd and Feingold are fillibustering it so it won't pass.
ReplyDelete"People shouldn't waste their time. Sens. Dodd and Feingold are fillibustering it so it won't pass."
ReplyDeleteNo, people should still contact their senators and let them know just how we feel about this travesty. Even if it gets filibustered to death, it's very important that those who represent us know where we stand.
these are my Senators? UGH!!
ReplyDeleteAnon10:49
ReplyDeleteThis is exactly the kind of thinking that keeps Americans living in apathy.
These people work for YOU and ME and every other singel tax payer.
They do what they do because big biz pays hundreds of thousands of dollars to lobbyist to work on their behalf.
We as citizens calling and telling them that you will make it your job to see that they won't see another term if they eviscerate the constitution is very powerful.
Never underestimate the power of a single person to change the world!
Don't allow apathy to allow yourself and fellow citizens to be walked on.
you tell them wimzie, im still tired from the beating i took last night.
ReplyDeleteI believe wymzie is dead on!
ReplyDeleteBut it wont pass, unless the congressional crooks get theirselves exempted....theirs would be the first phone lines to be tapped and taped....they'll never let it happen
hip.boots