NSA’s PRISM program, could expire if Paul’s filibuster is a success
Perhaps the biggest opponent in the presidential race of the NSA’s PRISM program that allows them to collect the metadata of millions of Americans is Rand Paul. Paul is not only vocal about his opposition, but he also takes strategic political action against violations of our fourth amendment rights in the Senate. In 2013, he filibustered the nomination of John Brennan to the CIA to bring attention to the government’s practice of drone assassinations of American citizens overseas. Now, he is threatening to filibuster the reauthorization of section 215 of the PATRIOT Act at the end of this month — and this time, he could do more than just instigate debate.
Currently, the Senate is faced with a bill that passed the House called the USA FREEDOM Act which really doesn’t do much for freedom. President Obama and hawk-light congressmen such as Ted Cruz, Mike Lee and Marco Rubio support the Act, splitting the hawks who make up the majority in the Senate between those who claim to want some kind of reform to bulk collection and those like Mitch McConnell who want a clean reauthorization of the Patriot Act.
The Senate’s decision to reauthorize the Patriot Act just became more complicated due to pressure from federal court to reconsider the language of section 215 because they felt it does not legally justify the PRISM program. And with only 2 weeks to garner support from their embattled colleagues, McConnell and Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Richard Burr (R-N.C.) may not be able to get enough support for a clean Patriot Act. But with the divide between Senators who support getting rid of bulk collection all together and those who want to support something hailed as reform, the Freedom Act doesn’t exactly have the greatest chance at passing either.
That’s where Rand Paul’s filibuster comes in.
Because of the split amongst McConnell’s Republicans, he may not be able to get a cloture vote to stop Paul’s filibuster against the Patriot Act. And if that happens at the same time that the Freedom Act fails to pass, then Paul’s filibuster to block a vote on reauthorizing the Patriot Act could put the final nail in the coffin of bulk collection.
In reality, as explained by Justin Amash (R-MI) on his Facebook page Thursday, the Freedom Act actually expands the statutory authority for the sweeping collection of Americans’ metadata.
It’s true that the bill ends the phone dragnet as we currently know it—by having the phone companies themselves hold, search, and analyze certain data at the request of the government, which is worse in many ways given the broader set of data the companies hold—but H.R. 2048 actually expands the statutory basis for the large-scale collection of most data.
H.R. 2048 does this by authorizing the government to order the production of records based upon a “specific selection term” (i.e., like a search term used in a search engine). The records sought still must be relevant to an investigation, so it’s possible the court’s ruling will continue to restrain the government in some fashion. But it’s more likely a court looking at H.R. 2048’s language will see the “specific selection term” as defining the outer limits of what Congress considers acceptably “relevant” under Section 215.
Indeed, the Second Circuit encouraged Congress in reforming Section 215 to make a “congressional judgment as to what is ‘reasonable’ under current circumstances.” Unfortunately, “specific selection term” is defined so broadly under the bill as to have little effect on narrowing the scope of items the government may obtain through a 215 order.
Amash, Kevin Yoder (R-Kan) and Thomas Massie (R-KY) proposed amendments to the Freedom Act which were blocked from getting a vote by the House’s Rules Committee.
Now, it’s up to a bipartisan team effort by Senator Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) and Rand Paul to use the stalemate to shut down the massive data-collection program the old-fashioned way.
The Supreme Court has a habit of ruling in favor of the government on matters of “national security,” so another blow to PRISM given by the senators coupled with public outrage could mean a great victory for our fourth amendment rights.
Check out this Facebook event page to show your support for the filibuster here.
