U.S. House Votes For Government Spying

Constitutional Freedoms, Fourth Amendment Protections Trashed

The Fourth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution:

“The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.”

The Fourth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States, stands to protect Americans from government abuse of power.

Although Members of Congress, the Administration and the Supreme Court take an oath to uphold the Constitution,  U.S. government agency officials in the FBI, CIA and NSA, acting under the color of Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance  (FISA) Act, routinely search and retain information on Americans' phone calls, emails and texts, without a required warrant. 

Warrantless electronic surveillance, by law, is supposed to be limited to foreigners.  However, despite agency promises of reform, the government flagrantly abuses the Fourth Amendment and does, in fact, use Section 702 of FISA to spy on Americans, without obtaining a court-ordered warrant,  

Friday, Congressman Andy Biggs of Arizona attempted to amend FISA to expressly prohibit such illegal, unconstitutional, warrantless searches of Americans.

Shockingly, the House of Representatives defeated the Biggs Amendment in a 212-212 tie vote, and then went on to approve a two-year extension of FISA. 

Any member of Congress who voted against the Biggs Amendment could have changed the outcome and cast a vote to protect our Constitutional rights under the Fourth Amendment.

If I had been in Congress, I would have voted for the Biggs Amendment. I would have broken the tie and the Constitution would have won!

The vote on the Biggs Amendment and the FISA extension were two of the most consequential votes cast in Congress this year.

Years ago, as a Member of Congress representing some of the same constituents, I voted against the Patriot Act because I wanted to protect the people from the exact type of abuses of power by the government which are occurring under Section 702 of FISA,  and because I saw it as an unconstitutional intrusion on the privacy rights of Americans.  

The abuse of FISA is not the only Constitutional issue at stake.  There is a full on assault of the US Constitution coming in many forms. Constitutional freedoms are now under assault by “lawfare,” where our elected officials adopt laws which undermine our basic rights.

Next,  I will discuss the World Health Organization's efforts to upend the U.S. Constitution in the form of a global pandemic treaty set to be adopted by the Administration at the end of May.