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Standing Up to FISA

Nation editor and publisher Katrina vanden Heuvel's recent post explained why The Nation has joined with the ACLU in a lawsuit filed in the US District Court of New York challenging the constitutionality of the FISA Amendments Act.

Moments after President Bush signed the bill into law, the ACLU filed suit challenging the law's constitutionality. Congress has not only legalized the Bush administration's secret NSA spying program, it has given the government even more power to listen to our phone calls and read our emails than even the administration itself claimed for itself under its secret program. And, by granting telecom companies immunity, it has made it highly unlikely that we will ever learn the extent of the administration's lawless actions.

Watch this brief clip of Senator Russell Feingold, one of the Senate's foremost Constitutional defenders, detailing the ramifications of the new FISA bill.

Peter Rothberg

July 15, 2008

Nation editor and publisher Katrina vanden Heuvel’s recent post explained why The Nation has joined with the ACLU in a lawsuit filed in the US District Court of New York challenging the constitutionality of the FISA Amendments Act.

Moments after President Bush signed the bill into law, the ACLU filed suit challenging the law’s constitutionality. Congress has not only legalized the Bush administration’s secret NSA spying program, it has given the government even more power to listen to our phone calls and read our emails than even the administration itself claimed for itself under its secret program. And, by granting telecom companies immunity, it has made it highly unlikely that we will ever learn the extent of the administration’s lawless actions.

Watch this brief clip of Senator Russell Feingold, one of the Senate’s foremost Constitutional defenders, detailing the ramifications of the new FISA bill.

If you want to stand up against the act, add your name to the ACLU’s ad campaign aimed at overturning the new law and join the growing online movement spearheaded by leading bloggers like Glenn Greenwald and Jane Hamsher to hold politicians accountable on the issue.

Peter RothbergTwitterPeter Rothberg is the The Nation’s associate publisher.


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