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Trump refuses to renew FISA without changes

President Trump yesterday once again told Congressional leaders that he will let the law that authorizes the FISA court to expire rather than sign a renewal with no changes in the law.

The surveillance provisions are set to expire on March 15, and the White House indicated to Republican leaders Tuesday that it would support only a temporary, 30-day extension to allow Congress to iron out the reforms.

House Democratic leaders have indicated publicly they are open to bipartisan compromise.

“Just got back from the White House. @realDonaldTrump made it abundantly clear that he will NOT accept a clean reauthorization of the Patriot Act without significant FISA reform! I agree with him!” Kentucky GOP Sen Rand Paul tweeted Tuesday.

Paul has been pushing for some fundamental changes, and it is very clear now that he has Trump backing him.

As far as I am concerned, we will be better off letting this unconstitutional law expire entirely. It was specifically designed to to give the courts and federal agencies a method for violating the Constitution in order to allow them more freedom for providing us better security. The result however has been that those agencies did a poor job of protecting us even as they misused the law in an effort to overthrow a legal election.

That Congress was even contemplating a renewal without changes illustrates once again how little they care about the interests of the American people, or the Constitution. They apparently like such violations, and want the ability to allow them to continue. Trump (and Senator Paul) are forcing them to do their proper jobs.

Genesis cover

On Christmas Eve 1968 three Americans became the first humans to visit another world. What they did to celebrate was unexpected and profound, and will be remembered throughout all human history. Genesis: the Story of Apollo 8, Robert Zimmerman's classic history of humanity's first journey to another world, tells that story, and it is now available as both an ebook and an audiobook, both with a foreword by Valerie Anders and a new introduction by Robert Zimmerman.

 
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"Not simply about one mission, [Genesis] is also the history of America's quest for the moon... Zimmerman has done a masterful job of tying disparate events together into a solid account of one of America's greatest human triumphs."--San Antonio Express-News

6 comments

  • Cotour

    One more Gold star to Trump as president.

    Now let him either let it die or sign a properly adjusted law, if that is indeed possible.

    And how did we get the Patriot Act?

    9- 11.

    Was sitting in a draw just waiting for the reason to be enacted. Makes you think, no?

  • eddie willers

    As far as I am concerned, we will be better off letting this unconstitutional law expire entirely.

    I’ve always thought the Patriot Act should have a sunset law of December 31st each year. If we still need it, make it come up for a vote. It’s not like they don’t have the time.

  • sippin_bourbon

    Rumor is that they will try to ram it through by tying the FISA renewal to Corona virus relief legislation.

  • David

    Eddie, that’s what this is, extending it past the previous sunset. It’s been voted through unchanged several times, but now Trump and, amazingly enough, a bipartisan group in the congress, are saying it needs fixes. Of course there’s no agreement on what the fixes should be addressing, and the leadership is not behind the push for changes. I fully expect an authorization to be snuck into something else that Trump won’t want to veto, such as a supplementary budget for Covid-19 emergency response, or disaster relief for Nashville or the like.

  • commodude

    There’s no adjustment to be made other than to let it die.

    It is unconstitutional, and has fed a predictable abuse of power by the government, which is why the Constitution exists, to limit, not grow, the power of the federal government.

  • wayne

    “FISA Court Finally Takes Landmark’s Advice — But it is Too Little, Too Late”
    Landmark Legal Foundation
    December 17, 2019
    https://www.landmarklegal.org/post/fisa-court-finally-takes-landmark-s-advice-but-it-is-too-little-too-late

    .

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