Libertarians for Ron Paul

The Democrats Betray the Fourth Amendment

“A bill essentially legalizing Bush’s warrantless surveillance program just sailed through the Democratic House and is expected to sail through the Democratic Senate. It would expand wiretapping powers against foreign targets, extend the grace period of warrantless domestic eavesdropping on Americans at home, and grant retroactive immunity to telecom companies that cooperated in illegal domestic spying. The New York Times calls it “the most significant revision of surveillance law in 30 years,” but it is also just the latest example in 30 years of Democratic betrayals of the Fourth Amendment.”

“In 1978, Democratic President Carter signed the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act into law. A meager response to Nixon’s surveillance of peaceful activists and other such abuses, FISA established a secret court within the Justice Department to issue special warrants for wiretapping foreign suspects. Even when spying on a “United States person,” intelligence officials now had 72 hours before they needed a warrant. Carter said in his signing statement, “This is a difficult balance to strike, but the act I am signing today strikes it.” The Fourth Amendment lost its teeth.”

“From 1979 to September 11, 2001, more than thirteen thousand FISA warrants were issued. Not a single application was rejected.”

“But that wasn’t enough for Bush…” Anthony Gregory looks at how Democrats enabled President Bush in his latest attack on liberty http://independent.org/newsroom/article.asp?id=2244