Patrick G. Eddington
There are still some House members who understand that the Bill of Rights is not supposed to be optional, and that it contains no “national security” exception. One of those legislators, Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (R‑FL), acted on that belief earlier this week when she introduced the American Privacy Restoration Act, a one-page bill that would repeal in its entirety the infamous PATRIOT Act.
As she noted in the press release announcing the introduction of her bill, “It’s past time to rein in our intelligence agencies and restore the right to privacy. Anyone trying to convince you otherwise is using ‘security’ as an excuse to erode your freedom.”
I couldn’t agree more.
And while the leadership at the National Security Agency, the Central Intelligence Agency, and the Federal Bureau of Investigation will likely strongly oppose her efforts, Luna’s greatest obstacle is going to be the congressional leadership—on both sides of the aisle.
Last year, it was the party leadership in both chambers that played the key role in passing an expansion of federal government surveillance under Section VII of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA). Luna will need allies among fellow Republicans and (mostly) progressive Democrats to have a shot at getting a hearing in the House Judiciary Committee for her legislation, and given the generally pro-National Security State stance of the GOP and Democratic leadership in the House and Senate, Luna has her work cut out for her…but she deserves credit for keeping the issue of federal government surveillance reform alive in this Congress.