In a 280-138 vote last night, the US House of Representatives narrowly renewed the USA Patriot Act. Just in time; the 2001 law expires on Friday. Although the vote didn’t appear close at all, the renewal was carried by a mere two-vote margin under rules that required a two-thirds supermajority.
Largely as a result of disclosures that the Bush administration had instituted a warrantless domestic wiretap program, a two-month Senate filibuster, led primarily by Senator Russell Feingold (D-Wisconsin), forced the administration to accept a few minimal restrictions on surveillance activities.
Specifically, the restrictions allow those subpoenaed to challenge a requirement prohibiting them from disclosing information about the investigation and eliminates the requirement that a suspect disclose the name of a lawyer consulted in the case of a National Security Letter.
Renewed provisions include allowing the government to obtain business records—including those of bookstores and libraries—for terrorism investigations.
The Republicans predictably declared victory. House Judiciary Committee Chair James Sensenbrenner (R-Wisconsin) bluntly told the Associated Press:
“Intense congressional and public scrutiny has not produced a single substantiated claim that the Patriot Act has been misused to violate Americans’ civil liberties. Opponents of the legislation have relied upon exaggeration and hyperbole to distort a demonstrated record of accomplishment and success.”
Representative Dennis Kucinich (D-Ohio) was surely one of the voices of exaggeration and hyperbole pointed to by Sensenbrenner:
“I rise in strong opposition to this legislation because it offers only a superficial reform that will have little if any impact on safeguarding our civil liberties.”
In various reports, Feingold said he voted against the measure—even with the new restrictions accomplished through his filibuster—because the new civil liberties protections were “so modest they were almost meaningless.”
Meanwhile, the Senate Judiciary Committee will be holding hearings on the warrantless domestic wiretapping program.
0 responses. Comments closed for this article.