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THE LAW LOFT
THURSDAY, OCTOBER 11, 2001
Update 12 Oct 2001
SPECIAL ALERT:
SENATE
VERSION OF
SO-CALLED ANTI-TERRORISM
BILL S. 1510 NOW SLATED
FOR DEBATE AND VOTE
TONIGHT
WHERE WE
STAND NOW:
The Senate version
of the anti-terrorism bill S. 1510 the "Uniting and Strengthening
America Act of 2001" is now scheduled for debate and vote tonight.
A total of six (6) hours of debate are scheduled on S. 1510
(Senate calendar item 187) and four proposed amendments starting at 8:00
p.m. ET.
WHAT'S IN
IT?
the net effect:
Although S.
1510 is purported to have broad support for "necessary"
changes to our legal system, it is in fact an all out assault on the
fundamental American doctrines of separation of powers among branches of
government (and by extension within the executive branch) and on the
freedoms guaranteed in the Bill of Rights.
If S. 1510 is
enacted as written (that is passes in the same form in both the Senate
and the House), we will be well on our way down the same path that led
to the destruction of representative government and the establishment of
totalitarian regimes in ancient Rome and in 1930's Germany.
WHAT’S IN
IT?
the specifics:
S. 1510
contains roving wiretaps issued in blank across the United States by a
single judge with little or no discretion to refuse warrants, erosion of
banking information confidentiality, provisions for seizure and
forfeiture of assets, suspension of the federal rules of evidence (in
seizure return cases) all based on a loose, unacceptably vague
definition of terrorism or protection of the state -- all of which
have/are being discussed by the ACLU and others elsewhere.
Even worse,
however, are the little discussed, even less understood changes to FISA
– the Federal Intelligence Surveillance Act.
FISA in 1978 established a super secret federal court which
acting on ex parte applications, with little or no record
keeping, issues surveillance warrants for the purpose of
spying on spies, in other words principally for
intelligence gathering.
Under S. 1510, FISA
is turned upside down and greatly expanded.
Under S. 1510:
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·
the Director of the
CIA is put in charge of establishing requirements and priorities
for FISA under new definitions that effectively put the CIA at
the top of the ladder for domestic inside USA
surveillance and seizures and erodes the prohibition on CIA
interference inside the USA.
·
the entire purpose
of FISA is changed from spying on spies to a much vaguer more
general purpose of protecting against international terrorism or
clandestine intelligence activities.
Thus no crime need be committed or even contemplated as a
precondition to FISA surveillance.
(This is remarkably similar to the change in the purpose
of the German legal system introduced by the Nazis after 1933
where protecting the public against vague threats posed by
Socialists, Communists, Jews, Gypsies, Homosexuals, unco-operative
journalists and other “undesirables” was used as the pretext
for mass incarceration and asset seizure.)
·
the limitation
against use of the products of FISA surveillances and seizures
in criminal court proceedings is materially weakened. Under this
bill, evidence from FISA surveillance and/or seizures can be
used in evidence in a criminal proceeding without giving the
defendant a right to confront or examine the materials upon
which he is accused. There
is no requirement of a nexus between FISA purposes and later use
in a criminal proceeding.
·
allows any FBI
assistant special agent or above to apply for an order requiring
production of any tangible thing, including books, records,
papers, documents and other items based upon a secret
application. The
fact of the seizure may never be revealed to the person whose
records have been seized.
·
even cuts Congress
out of the loop by delaying reports to Congress on activities
conducted under it until February 2002 or beyond.
·
ironically because
of the way certain information sharing provisions are written,
S. 1510 could increase the risk of terrorism within the
United States. |
This is the worst
piece of anti-terrorism legislation introduced within at least the last
ten years. It is the Kafka
nightmare in written form.
WHAT TO DO:
(revised 1:00 a.m. CT, October 12, 2001)
S. 1510 passed in
the Senate tonight by a vote of 96 to 1.
A number of senators indicated that the real fight will be in the
House where a different version of the bill, H.R. 2975 will come to the
floor for a vote either today – Friday, the 12th or next week.
Since the two versions will not match, a conference committee
will meet thereafter to reconcile the language of the two bills which
will then return to each chamber for an up or down vote.
Write, phone, fax
or e-mail your congressman and
urge the House to pass nothing like S. 1510 and especially none of the
changes to FISA that passed last night in the Senate.
Tell them you don’t
want the Constitution and Bill of Rights to become the final victims of
the terror attacks of September 11th. |
email Jacq'