Action alert! Please act now to stop Senator Specter�s bill to authorize Bush�s illegal wiretapping from being approved by the Senate Judiciary Committee.

August 2, 2006 - News

On Friday, August 4, the Senate Judiciary Committee will vote on sending Senator Spector�s S. 2453 (known as the �Cheney-Specter bill�) to the Senate floor. Rather than hold President Bush accountable under the Fourth Amendment to obtain a warrant, based on probable cause and issued by judge, before tapping the communications of American citizens, Specter�s bill legalizes the program and any other current or future secret spying programs.

Please call members of the Judiciary Committee whether or not ou you are a constituent.

S.2453 will send all cases involving warrantless surveillance to the secret Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court. Only the government may argue before this court; victims of warrantless surveillance may not present their case. Both the court�s proceedings and decisions are secret. It is a black box, to which only the government has access.

Worse still, Specter�s S 2453 goes even further than the USA PATRIOT Act in eviscerating the Fourth Amendment and discarding civil liberties we take for granted:

� The bill authorizes the president to conduct warrantless searches of people�s homes and businesses during a declared state of war,
� It gives the president power to use roving wiretaps without a warrant, and
� It removes protections under the Privacy Act of 1974, to enable the president to conduct data-mining of Americans� private information.
Specter�s bill is an affront to the Constitution. We urge you to call both of your senators today and let them know that you strongly object to S. 2453. You can find the phone numbers at http://www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm.

Arlen Specter
CHAIRMAN, PENNSYLVANIA
(202) 224-4254

Orrin G. Hatch
UTAH
(202) 224-5251

Patrick J. Leahy
RANKING DEMOCRATIC MEMBER, VERMONT
(202) 224-4242

Charles E. Grassley
IOWA
(202) 224-3744

Edward M. Kennedy
MASSACHUSETTS
(202) 224-4543

Jon Kyl
ARIZONA
(202) 224-4521

Joseph R. Biden, Jr.
DELAWARE
(202) 224-5042

Mike DeWine
OHIO
(202) 224-2315

Herbert Kohl
WISCONSIN
(202) 224-5653

Jeff Sessions
ALABAMA
(202) 224-4124

Dianne Feinstein
CALIFORNIA
(202) 224-3841

Lindsey Graham
SOUTH CAROLINA
(202) 224-5972

Russell D. Feingold
WISCONSIN
(202) 224-5323

John Cornyn
TEXAS
(202) 224-2934

Charles E. Schumer
NEW YORK
(202) 224-6542

Sam Brownback
KANSAS
(202) 224-6521

Richard J. Durbin
ILLINOIS
(202) 224-2152

Tom Coburn
OKLAHOMA
(202) 224-5754

Last updated August 3, 2006