Get FISA Right

On Thursday evening, Rep. Chris Van Hollen made his first local appearance since his regrettable “Nay” vote against the Amash-Conyers defense appropriations amendment — a bill that would have stopped NSA warrantless surveillance under the FISA Amendments Act dead in its tracks.*

Montgomery County Civil Rights Coalition (MCCRC) activists and coalition partners were on hand to hold him accountable.

The event — held at the Silver Spring Civic Center — was a “Climate Change Town Hall” organized by the Montgomery County chapter of the Obama administration volunteer support group “Organizing For America” (OFA).  MCCRC and Peace Action activists fanned out in front of the Civic Center to pass out flyers and collect petition signatures urging Van Hollen to make amends by co-sponsoring and voting for legislation to prohibit bulk collection of communications metadata, bar prospective surveillance, enable adversarial review of violations in a public court, and establish a…