Leahy-Feinstein Substitute Patriot Act Amendments Approved by Judiciary Committee
The Leahy-Feinstein substitute bill I discussed in my piece this morning about the USA PATRIOT Act was just approved by the Senate Judiciary Committee 13-8,
Jul 31, 2020939K Shares13.2M Views
The Leahy-Feinstein substitute bill I discussed in my piece this morningabout the USA PATRIOT Act was just approved by the Senate Judiciary Committee 13-8, with only minor word changes.
Amendments proposed by Sen. Richard Durbin (D-Ill.) that would have required that the target of a National Security Letter have some alleged connection to terrorism, and by Sens. Russ Feingold (D-Wis.) and Arlen Specter (D-Pa.) that would have eliminated the “lone wolf” provision that allows surveillance of suspects with no suspected link to a known foreign terrorist organization, were defeated.
Much of the justification cited by Senators who supported the broad surveillance powers contained in the bill was based on classified briefings from the FBI and Justice Department. Feingold, who drew different conclusions from those briefings, lamented that the information about how the Patriot Act has been used remains classified.
Sen. Al Franken (D-Minn.), who in the past has expressed concernsthat parts of the Patriot Act violate the Fourth Amendment’s “search and seizure” clause, didn’t say a word at the markup session. He voted in favor of the Leahy-Feinstein bill renewing the expiring provisions of the Patriot Act.
Update: Here’s the final committee vote:
Aye: Kohl, Feinstein, Schumer, Cardin, Whitehouse, Klobuchar, Kaufman, Franken, Kyl, Cornyn
Nay: Feingold, Durbin, Specter, Sessions, Hatch, Grassley, Graham, Coburn
Paolo Reyna
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Paolo Reyna is a writer and storyteller with a wide range of interests. He graduated from New York University with a Bachelor of Arts in Journalism and Media Studies.
Paolo enjoys writing about celebrity culture, gaming, visual arts, and events. He has a keen eye for trends in popular culture and an enthusiasm for exploring new ideas. Paolo's writing aims to inform and entertain while providing fresh perspectives on the topics that interest him most.
In his free time, he loves to travel, watch films, read books, and socialize with friends.
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