Secretive Court Renews NSA’s Ability to Conduct Surveillance on Americans

Paul Lawrance

The secretive Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court on Friday renewed the NSA’s ability to continue collecting millions of Americans’ telephone records.

Media disclosures provided by Edward Snowden forced the DNI to publicly announce the continuation of the surveillance that has been in place for years but requires renewal every three months.

898 Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court Renews Authority to Collect Telephony Metadata

The continuation of the massive dragnet surveillance is proof that the Obama administration and the secret court of 11 federal judges are committed to keeping telecommunication privacy nonexistent, despite the outcry of resistance from the American people. Multiple New Polls Show Americans Reject Wholesale NSA Domestic Spying.

ACLU Tells Supreme Court FISA Surveillance Law is Unconstitutional

Activist Post

The Supreme Court heard arguments today in Clapper v. Amnesty International, to decide whether clients of the American Civil Liberties Union can challenge the constitutionality of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act.

The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA), enacted by Congress after the abuses of the 1960s and 70s, regulates the government’s conduct of intelligence surveillance inside the United States. It generally requires the government to seek warrants before monitoring Americans’ communications. In 2001, however, President Bush authorized the National Security Agency to launch a warrantless wiretapping program, and in 2008 Congress ratified and expanded that program, giving the NSA almost unchecked power to monitor Americans’ international phone calls and emails.

House Votes Today to Legalize Warrantless Wiretaps

All tyranny needs to gain a foothold is for people of good conscience to remain silent. -- Thomas Jefferson

Activist Post

Only days after a NSA whistleblower has sounded the alarm about the government's massive spying campaign on American citizens, the U.S. Congress who swore an oath to uphold the Constitution are set to legalize warrantless wiretaps with the reauthorization of the secretive FISA Amendments Act.

This legislation is the perfect example of why there is no difference between the political parties. Their rhetoric may differ when it's politically expedient, but when push comes to shove they always vote for tyranny.

Obama said he was against the Patriot Act to get elected because the majority of Americans opposed it, but then he supported its extension not for one year, but for four years. Obama repeatedly attacked Bush's warrantless wiretaps as unconstitutional, but now he's expected to sign this 5-year reauthorization once the unprincipled legislators rubber stamp it today.