Lawmakers Pushing Hard on Passing Anti-NSA Bills, Obama Calls on a Private Meeting at White House By Admin on August 5, 2013 east-front-of-the-capitol-building-at-night by Ezra Van Auken Three Senators took to the stage last week proposing legislation that would alter the United States’ most and only secret court, the Foreign Intelligence Service Court. One bill, which was introduced by Senators Ron Wyden, Tom Udall and Richard Blumenthal, called “FISA Court Reform Act of 2013” would order that the FISA courts have to hear testimony from a public interest standpoint: “whose client would be the constitution” anytime new surveillance programs are looking to be enacted. Secondly, the FISA Judge Selection Reform Act would overturn the way judges of the FISA court are picked. As McClatchy reported, “Currently, the chief justice of the Supreme Court chooses the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court’s membership,” which many dispute has become corrupted; only appointing those closely aligned with the courts and government. Looking to bring transparency to the dark and hidden court system, Wyden’s support for both bills are what he believes will help to steer government. Wyden told listeners, “This is the court that, in effect, allowed this new definition of relevance under the Patriot Act to lay bare the personal lives of hundreds of millions of law-abiding Americans,” going on to say that when in fact the FISA courts allowed for these surveillance programs, not one civil liberties or privacy advocate was there. Unfortunately for Sen. Wyden, Senate Democrats appear to be backing the administration’s excessive surveillance programs over the American people. The 35-year history of FISA has more than 30,000 surveillance requests and out of the tens of thousands, the court has rejected only 11 requests. By placing a constitutional advocate or lawyer in the FISA discussion would open the actual conversation, Senators believe. “If you have an advocate in there whose focus is the constitution and civil liberties, it unleashes the court to be able to do the job that typically courts do,” Udall said. Whether or not the FISA courts would actually listen has yet to be seen, clearly. Congress isn’t backing down either when it comes to American privacy, even after the defeat to Justin Amash’s bill. As of right now, eleven different pieces of legislation are in the House, aimed at tightening the grips on the FISA and NSA. The Guardian notes, “The proposals range from repealing the legal foundations of key US surveillance powers to more moderate reforms,” showing a gaining fight in the legislative house to bring change. Within the same day legislators from both the Senate and House put more momentum behind anti-spying bills, Edward Snowden was granted asylum in Russia. Looking to deter some of these efforts, which have only grown, President Obama hosted a private meeting at the White House with top US lawmakers. Nine members of Congress got to attend the closed-door meeting, according to Politico. “Today’s meeting was constructive and the President committed that he and his team would continue to work closely with the Congress on these matters in the weeks and months ahead,” the White House stated.
Posted on: Tue, 06 Aug 2013 12:01:56 +0000
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