“Today marks, sadly, a missed opportunity to protect both the national security needs of this country and the rights and freedoms of its citizens,” commented Sen. Russ Feingold (D-Wis.), who led a December filibuster to block renewal, in a March 9 statement. “I vow to redouble my efforts to bring back the safeguards that the entire Senate agreed to last summer and enact the further safeguards contained in the bipartisan SAFE Act.”
American Library Association President Michael Gorman criticized the act’s renewal in a March 7 statement. “Our work on restoring privacy and civil liberties to library users is not over,” he said, pledging that ALA will seek a stricter standard for Section 215 orders to require the FBI to limit searches of library records to individuals who are connected to a terrorist or are otherwise suspected of a crime. He added that ALA will also push for a provision allowing recipients of Section 215 orders or national security letters to meaningfully challenge the gag rule that keeps them from disclosing that they have received such orders.
Some legislators voted to pass the renewal despite their reservations—including Sen. Arlen Specter (R-Pa.), chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee, who introduced legislation (S. 2369) March 6 that he said “puts down a benchmark to provide extra protections that better comport with my sensitivity of civil rights.” The bill includes amendments to Section 215 that would implement a three-part test to obtain a 215 order and would eliminate the mandatory one-year waiting period for judicial review of its nondisclosure requirement.
Posted March 10, 2006.