Obama, Democrats Push to Make Bush Spying Laws Permanent

[JReed]

53. Update

Senate Reauthorizes Warrantless Wiretapping
After Defeating Moderate Reforms, Senate Extends Unchecked Surveillance Powers for Five Years

WASHINGTON - December 28 - The Senate today reauthorized the FISA Amendments Act of 2008, an unconstitutional spying bill that violates the Fourth Amendment and gives vast, unchecked surveillance authority to the government. The FISA Amendments Act Reauthorization Act (H.R. 5949), passed on a 73-23 vote, authorizes the National Security Agency to conduct dragnet surveillance of Americans’ international emails and phone calls.

“It’s a tragic irony that FISA, once passed to protect Americans from warrantless government surveillance, has mutated into its polar opposite due to the FISA Amendments Act,” said Michelle Richardson, legislative counsel at the ACLU. “The Bush administration’s program of warrantless wiretapping, once considered a radical threat to the Fourth Amendment.

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http://www.commondreams.org/newswire/2012/12/28-0