Wiretap bill draws lawsuit
Posted by Jacque on July 10th, 2008
The new wiretapping bill, H.R. 6304, just posted about was quickly signed into law by President George W. Bush, and the ACLU and other civil liberties groups immediately filed suit, according to a Yahoo News report.
Statements from the two camps highlight their differing opinions. “This law will protect the liberties of our citizens while maintaining the vital flow of intelligence,” Bush said at the White House ceremony marking the bill’s signing.
The ACLU and others said, “The lawsuit asks the court to stop the government from enforcing the new unconstitutional wiretapping law, which will give the Bush administration unfettered power to spy on Americans without warrants or judicial oversight.”
The bill, which authorizes U.S. intelligence agencies to eavesdrop without court approval on foreign targets believed to be outside the United States, has been opposed by many who believe it allows warrantless surveillance of the phone calls and e-mails of Americans who communicate with them. The bill is supposed to minimize such eavesdropping on Americans, but critics say the safeguards are inadequate.
H.R. 6304 was especially controversial because it provides protection to telecom companies that took part in a warrantless domestic spying program Bush began after the September 11 attacks, as reported in my previous post.
Senator Barack Obama’s perceived flip-flop on the bill disappointed and/or angered many of his supporters. It was believed he would support efforts to block legislation with a telecommunications immunity provision, but Obama voted for the overall bill after casting a losing vote for an amendment that would strip the immunity provision.
“Given the choice between voting for an improved yet imperfect bill, and losing important surveillance tools, I’ve chosen to support the current compromise,” Obama said on his campaign Web site.
Photo by stargazer95050. Creative Commons license.
