| By Erik Love - Dec 10th, 2007 at 11:23 am PST |
I remember when President Bush promised that any time that the CIA or FBI listened to my phone calls, there was an impartial court that gave them permission to spy on me. It made sense to me. After all, the CIA isn't above the law.
And then, we found out that not only did the President lie, but so did AT&T and other telephone corporations. They helped the Bush Administration violate my civil liberties (and yours) -- for who knows how long. A former AT&T worker in San Francisco came forward as a whistleblower on the illegal activities he saw at the secret AT&T office where he worked. The case against the telephone corporations is solid -- so it's time to bring them to justice.
Or not.
As Bradley Whitford explains in his latest Courage Campaign video, our Senator Feinstein holds a crucial vote on a bill that would let AT&T off the hook. It's called "retroactive immunity," but what that really means is that your phone company can violate your civil liberties without any penalty.
Tell Senator Feinstein to stop this bill from ever seeing the light of day.
More from Rick Jacobs after the flip:
Turns out President Bush was wrong. But Congress has failed to hold him accountable.
Remember when pundit Joe Klein recently told four million TIME magazine readers that Democrats were granting "terrorists the same rights as Americans" by attempting to restore the previous checks and balances provided by the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA)?
Turns out Joe Klein was wrong. But TIME has failed to hold him accountable.
Here's the good news. It's not too late to hold President Bush and telecom companies accountable for wiretapping Americans without a warrant and trampling on the Constitution.
The Courage Campaign and CREDO Action (from Working Assets) are teaming up with Bradley Whitford ("Josh Lyman" on The West Wing) to spread the word from coast-to-coast before it's too late. Brad took time out of a film shoot in Canada to record this special YouTube video for the Courage Campaign. Will you take time out today to support his call-to-action?
http://www.couragecampaign.org/filibuster
As Robert Reich, former Secretary of Labor under President Clinton, said in a commentary on NPR recently:
"You'd think anyone who remembered J. Edgar Hoover's FBI and Nixon's CIA, the Federal Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978 -- let alone the Fourth Amendment to the Constitution -- might be concerned about the government illegally snooping on Americans. But executives at the nation's biggest telecoms didn't blink an eye when the NSA, America's biggest spy agency, came knocking. You want records of domestic phone calls? Sure, help yourself. Emails? Yeah, we got tons -- they're yours.
... (The telecom companies said) they were only following orders. Only following orders? What if the government told telecoms to use their technologies to spy on American bedrooms, or turn over our bank accounts, or our personal photographs, home videos, anything else we store on computers or transmit through cables or over the Internet? The "only following orders" excuse would make telecoms extensions of our spy agencies."
Now, the telecoms and President Bush want Congress to let them off the hook by granting them amnesty for breaking the law. For violating our privacy. For spying on us. For violating our fundamental constitutional rights as Americans.
http://www.couragecampaign.org/filibuster
This week, a Senate Intelligence Committee bill re-authorizing the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) will likely come to the Senate floor. This bill includes amnesty for telecom companies guilty of wiretapping Americans without a warrant.
Why amnesty? As our friends at CREDO Action explain:
"(President) Bush wants retroactive amnesty for the telecom companies to thwart civil liberties lawsuits that threaten to expose his own violations of the original FISA law. If these lawsuits aren't allowed to go forward, we may never know the extent of the Bush administration's illegal efforts to spy on American citizens without the required warrants."
That's just one reason why Senator Dodd, supported by Senator Russ Feingold and other Senators, is promising a filibuster. However, it takes 40 votes to uphold a filibuster, and Dodd will need every vote he can get -- including Senator Feinstein's support. Without it, the Bush Administration and telecoms may never be forced to reveal the scandalous history behind their sordid spying.
http://www.couragecampaign.org/filibuster
Why is Senator Feinstein's support for Senator Dodd's filibuster so important?
It's not just about standing strong against telecom immunity. It's about standing strong against President Bush's "unitary executive" theory of power. Keep in mind that Senator Feinstein's pivotal Judiciary Committee vote made it possible for Michael Mukasey to become Attorney General, even though Mukasey supports the interpretation of executive branch power that President Bush has used to wiretap and spy -- without congressional approval or judicial review.
While Senator Feinstein voted to confirm Attorney General Mukasey, she can still do the right thing on FISA, the law the Attorney General is supposed to enforce.
http://www.couragecampaign.org/filibuster
When corporate executives know government orders to spy on our phone calls and emails are illegal, they have a duty stand up for the Constitution and force the Bush Administration to obtain that information through FISA, a minimum level of judicial review. If these telecom companies fail to take responsibility, Americans need the legal option to sue them and -- if these huge corporations are found guilty -- force them to pay financial damages.
Otherwise, without the threat of serious financial liability, they will spy again. It's as simple as that.
Thank you for taking action today. And a special thank you to all the Courage Campaign supporters who made Bradley Whitford's YouTube video possible by responding to our call for financial contributions last Thursday. With your ongoing support, we can hold President Bush and the telecoms accountable.
Rick Jacobs
Chair
P.S. Last week, we asked Art Torres, Chairman of the California Democratic Party, to use his political and moral capital to persuade Senator Feinstein on telecom immunity, since he said it was an issue that was "very important" to him. Even though he represents Democrats across California and may be one of the few individuals who can convince Senator Feinstein to support a filibuster, as of today, he has not responded to your calls for accountability.
http://www.couragecampaign.org/filibuster
Comments are closed for this post.
Dear Mr. Kelly, Architect:
Thank you for writing regarding the Bush Administration's request for legislation that would provide liability relief for telecommunications companies that are alleged to have provided assistance to the National Security Agency after September 11, 2001. I appreciate your thoughts on this topic, and welcome the opportunity to respond.
The Senate Intelligence Committee approved a bill on October 18th amending the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978 (FISA) by a vote of 13-2. That bill, among many provisions, would provide immunity for such companies if they were specifically requested or directed to provide assistance to the government.
The Intelligence Committee's report on the bill includes declassified text stating that the Executive branch provided letters to electronic communication service providers at regular intervals. These letters all directed or requested assistance and noted that the assistance was authorized by the President and was legal. The Committee's report can be found at Link.
I voted for the FISA legislation that passed out of the Intelligence Committee by a bipartisan vote of 13-2. The Senate Judiciary Committee did not take action on the portions of the bill dealing with immunity. The bill is now scheduled to go to the Senate floor. I am keeping an open mind to whether some other legislative approach besides immunity would be best.
Rest assured that I will make every effort to ensure that new FISA legislation will protect the privacy rights of all Americans without restricting the intelligence community's ability to protect us from attack.
Again, thank you for writing. I hope that you will continue to write on matters of importance to you. Should you have any further comments or questions, please feel free to contact my Washington, D.C. office at (202) 224-3841. Best regards.
Sincerely yours,
Dianne Feinstein
United States Senator