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Seventy two in Congress join battle against wiretapsRaw StoryMay. 11, 2006 |
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 Seventy two members of Congress filed papers late Wednesday seeking to end President George W. Bush's warrantless NSA eavesdropping program, RAW STORY has learned. The filing came just before a report Thursday in USA Today which revealed that the National Security Agency's warrantless wiretapping program had collected call records on tens of millions of Americans through agreements with AT&T, Verizon and BellSouth. It also comes a day after lawyers looking into the NSA program abruptly closed their probe after the Bush Administration refused to grant them clearances. The 71 Democrats and one independent filed an amicus brief in two federal courts reviewing challenges to the warrantless wiretapping program in Detroit and New York, joining the American Civil Liberties Union and the Center for Constitutional Rights. Both suits demand the program be stopped. Top Democrats did not sign the call. Neither House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) nor House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer (D-MD) have joined the brief. "It is very disturbing that, on the same day we learn that the NSA has been secretly collecting the phone records of tens of millions of Americans, we also learn that the Department of Justice has abruptly cancelled its investigation into the Agency's warrantless wiretapping program," said Rep. John Conyers, the ranking House Judiciary Democrat who is spearheading the initiative. "These developments clearly point to the urgent need for oversight and review of this program. Congress has failed to provide this critical oversight which has led us to the courts." The brief argues that Congress never authorized the warrantless spying program, neither through the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978 nor the post-9/11 authorization for use of military force. It details the legislative history of both and asks the court to halt the program immediately. "As our brief makes clear, this Congress dealt with this issue authoritatively almost 30 years ago - warrantless spying on American soil is flatly prohibited," Conyers added. Conyers cited the Church Committee -- a special senatorial committee in the 1970s that gave Congress more oversight of the intelligence community in the wake of President Nixon's Watergate scandal. The following 72 Representatives are amici in the brief. The brief can be read here. John Conyers, Jr. of Michigan Neil Abercrombie of Hawaii Gary Ackerman of New York Brian Baird of Washington Tammy Baldwin of Wisconsin Howard Berman of California Shelley Berkley of Nevada Earl Blumenauer of Oregon Rick Boucher of Virginia Corrine Brown of Florida Michael Capuano of Massachusetts Julia Carson of Indiana William Lacy Clay of Missouri Artur Davis of Alabama Peter DeFazio of Oregon Diana DeGette of Colorado William Delahunt of Massachusetts Sam Farr of California Chaka Fattah of Pennsylvania Barney Frank of Massachusetts Al Green of Texas Raul Grijalva of Arizona Maurice Hinchey of New York Ruben Hinojosa of Texas Michael Honda of California Jesse Jackson, Jr. of Illinois Sheila Jackson Lee of Texas Eddie Bernice Johnson of Texas Stephanie Tubbs Jones of Ohio Dale E. Kildee of Michigan Carolyn C. Kilpatrick of Michigan Dennis Kucinich of Ohio Tom Lantos of California Barbara Lee of California Zoe Lofgren of California John Lewis of Georgia Carolyn Maloney of New York Edward Markey of Massachusetts Jim McDermott of Washington James McGovern of Massachusetts Martin Meehan of Massachusetts George Miller of California James Moran of Virginia Jerrold Nadler of New York Eleanor Holmes Norton of District of Columbia James Oberstar of Minnesota John Olver of Massachusetts Major Owens of New York Donald Payne of New Jersey Charles Rangel of New York Linda Sanchez of California Bernard Sanders of Vermont Janice Schakowsky of Illinois Bobby Scott of Virginia Jose Serrano of New York Brad Sherman of California Louise Slaughter of New York Hilda Solis of California Fortney Pete Stark of California Bennie Thompson of Mississippi John Tierney of Massachusetts Tom Udall of New Mexico Chris Van Hollen of Maryland Debbie Wasserman Shultz of Florida Melvin Watt of North Carolina Maxine Waters of California Diane Watson of California Henry Waxman of California Robert Wexler of Florida Lynn Woolsey of California David Wu of Oregon Albert Russell Wynn of Maryland |
