Get FISA Right

The battle over FISA 702 reauthorization continues. Last Thursday, Speaker Johnson tried to sneak through a horrible “compromise” proposal (a five-year extension with a fake warrant requirement in exchange for broadening FISA use in criminal cases) with almost no notice — less than two hours from when the amended version was published until the vote. Fortunately, it backfired big time; a dozen Republicans opposed it, and only a handful of surveillance-friendly Democrats wanted to give more power to the Trump administration. After a vote on an 18-month clean reauth also failed, Congress bought themselves a little more time by passing a ten-day extension.

After that big win for reformers, the Senate is working on its own proposal, in hopes that Speaker Johnson can somehow convince enough Democrats to get on board with a “a three-year extension … with policy changes” to pass it with a 2/3 majority. But what policy changes do they have in mind? Surveillance hawks presumably want more fake safeguards and broadened powers. Reformers are focused on closing the backdoor search loophole, closing the data broker loophole, introducing a real warrant requirement, and other improvements. The politics are very messy, and it’s not at all clear what if anything will break the impasse.

Of course, the April 30 “deadline” is fake: FISA certifications have already been renewed until March 2027 even if Congress doesn’t act. But the closer we get to midterm elections, the less time and energy Congress wants to spend on a polarizing issue like FISA. So reformers have a great opportunity to build on last week’s win …

Which means this is a great time to contact your legislators! This is a situation where calls are likely to have a lot more impact than emails; you can use the US Capitol switchboard at 202-224-312, call your legislators office directly. or use calling tools from Indivisible and QuitGPT if you prefer.

Whichever option you choose, here’s a script (based on Indivisible’s).

Hi, my name is [Your Name], and I’m a constituent from [Your City, State]. I am calling today to ask that [Senator Name] demand major reforms to Section 702 of the FISA, and to withhold your vote from reauthorization without reforms.

Specifically, it is essential that you withhold your vote from reauthorization until the legislation is amended to: 

Close the Backdoor Search Loophole

Close the Data Broker Loophole

And please do not be fooled by fake reforms! Now more than ever in the era of mass AI, personal privacy and civil liberties must be protected.