NATIONAL LAWYERS GUILD CALLS ON SENATE TO VOTE “NO” ON FISA BILL, H.R. 6304

[Phred42]

edit - sorry this ended up in th wrong place - it didn't ask me where

Ok - a little late, but I just found this.

The final vote will be in July. Maybe it's not too late


NATIONAL LAWYERS GUILD CALLS ON SENATE TO VOTE “NO” ON ELECTRONIC SURVEILLANCE BILL, H.R. 6304 <[br />http://nlg.org/news/index.php?entry=entry080624-090840
Tuesday, June 24, 2008, 09:08 AM
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

June 24, 2008

Contact: Contact: Marjorie Cohn, NLG President, [e-mail]; 619-374-6923
Heidi Boghosian, NLG Executive Director, [e-mail]; 212-679-5100,

NATIONAL LAWYERS GUILD CALLS ON SENATE TO VOTE “NO” ON ELECTRONIC SURVEILLANCE BILL, H.R. 6304

New York. The National Lawyers Guild condemns the passage by the House of Representatives of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (“FISA”) bill, H.R. 6304, and calls upon the Senate to stand up for the Fourth Amendment and vote “No” when the measure comes before that body for approval this week.

“Senator Feingold has said it well,” said Marjorie Cohn, President of the National Lawyers Guild. “This is not a compromise measure; this is a total capitulation to the White House.”

The FISA bill passed by the House last week authorizes sweeping, untargeted surveillance of all electronic communications to and from this country. It also gives virtually complete immunity to the telephone companies who cooperate with the government and turn over personal telephone records for their customers without any notice to the consumer.

Under the House proposal, any member of Congress who is not on the Judiciary or Intelligence Committees will not have access to reports on the FISA surveillance. At the same time, the House bill wipes out any meaningful judicial review of the warrants issued to conduct the surveillance, creating an “exigent” circumstances exception that guts the Fourth Amendment. The special FISA court, which approves these warrants, will officially now be nothing but a rubber-stamp for the White House under the proposed measure.

Just two weeks ago, the Supreme Court ruled against the administration for the third time in the Guantanamo detainee cases, reminding the nation that the so-called “War on Terror” is not a blank check for the President to eviscerate the Fourth Amendment. With this bill, the House of Representatives has handed the White House another blank check.

“The nation wants change. That is the message of this election. Let’s start meaningful change by ending secret government spying on Americans,” said Cohn.

Founded in 1937 as an alternative to the American Bar Association, which did not admit people of color, the National Lawyers Guild is the oldest and largest public interest/human rights bar organization in the United States. Its headquarters are in New York and it has chapters in every state.

[midnight]

1. It is very clear why this FISA bill is no comprimise.

I wish our Dems. would get on board with the consitution.

[gristy]

2. How can I find the text to the bill

When I go to www.house.gov and browse by bill #, look what I find

http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/L?c110:./list/c110h.lst:6301
6304 . To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to require that the payment of the manufacturers' excise tax on recreational equipment be paid quarterly. (Introduced in House)

:wtf:

[MissWaverly]

3. here you go, I have included a snip with the link

Remember how the federalist judges are always defending states rights, there are no states rights in this bill. If the
jist of this is to monitor overseas intelligence why is there a lock on the abilities of the states to investigate
abuse. This gives me chills folks, it means that this is not what it seems.

SEC. 803. PREEMPTION.
1. ‘(a) In General- No State shall have authority to--
‘(1) conduct an investigation into an electronic communication service provider’s alleged assistance to an element of the intelligence community;
‘(2) require through regulation or any other means the disclosure of information about an electronic communication service provider’s alleged assistance to an element of the intelligence community;
‘(3) impose any administrative sanction on an electronic communication service provider for assistance to an element of the intelligence community; or
‘(4) commence or maintain a civil action or other proceeding to enforce a requirement that an electronic communication service provider disclose information concerning alleged assistance to an element of the intelligence community.
‘(b) Suits by the United States- The United States may bring suit to enforce the provisions of this section.
‘(c) Jurisdiction- The district courts of the United States shall have jurisdiction over any civil action brought by the United States to enforce the provisions of this section.
‘(d) Application- This section shall apply to any investigation, action, or proceeding that is pending on or commenced after the date of the enactment of the FISA Amendments Act of 2008.

http://www.govtrack.us/congress/billtext.xpd?bill=h110-6304

[rodeodance]

7. Thanks.

[MissWaverly]

11. you are welcome

Must admit I always love your "you are there" critiques of what is going on.

[DianaForRussFeingold]

4. K&R Thank You! "The Constitution should not be for sale at any price."

:patriot: "Granting retroactive immunity will let corporate law-breakers off the hook and hamstring efforts to learn the truth about Bush's illegal spying program."
"It's time for Senate Democrats to show a little backbone and stand up to George W. Bush
and the corporate lobbyists. They should do everything in their power -- including
joining Senator Dodd's efforts to filibuster this legislation -- to stop retroactive immunity."


'Edwards Urges Senate Democrats To Filibuster FISA Bill
Jan 24, 2008' http://www.johnedwards.com/news/press-releases/20080124-fisa/index.html

[rodeodance]

8. That's my Senator:-)

[Cha]

5. Great! Thank you,

Lawyer's Guild.

[rodeodance]

6. K and R

[madfloridian]

9. Damn lefty liberal lawyers....

:sarcasm:

[madfloridian]

10. Needs a kick.

.