Permanent Minority. A group of Senate Democrats, including Jay Rockefeller, supported legislation in the Intelligence Committee that expands the Patriot Act to allow the government to “subpoena records without the approval of a judge or grand jury.”

Toward the Majority. Every Democrat except Oklahoma Representative Dan Boren and two absentees voted for a pro-privacy amendment by Bernie Sanders that prevents the FBI from using the Patriot Act to obtain citizens’ library or bookstore records without a proper warrant. Because of that unity, the amendment passed.