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Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, took a flamethrower to governmental abuse of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA), which many have long argued has been used to foist unnecessary Orwellian surveillance upon everyday American citizens.
In remarks delivered on the House floor, Jordan slammed governmental overreach. He explained, “In 2021-2022 the FBI did over three million U.S. person queries in this giant 702 database…three million queries of United States persons. And make no mistake, query is a fancy name for search.”
He added, “Three million Americans’ data was searched in this database of information, and guess what? The FBI wasn’t even following their own rules when they conducted those searches.”
FISA courts are used in Washington, D.C., to “review executive branch (government) applications for authorization to employ various means of obtaining foreign intelligence, principally when they are conducted in the United States or otherwise directed at Americans.”
In essence, a FISA court essentially bypasses the need to obtain a warrant in a more “traditional way” to gather intelligence on an entity or persons, which has drawn the ire of many Americans who are concerned about whether FISA procedures violate citizens’ privacy.
Rep. Jordan continued, “What we’re saying is, let’s do something that the Constitution has had in place for a couple hundred years that has served our nation well and protected American citizens’ liberties. Let’s make the executive branch go through a separate and equal branch of government, the judicial branch, and get a probable cause warrant to do the search.”
The Fourth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution clearly states the following:
“The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.”
The House Judiciary Committee, on which Jordan serves as the chairman, has made “GET A WARRANT” their battle cry as members of Congress have continued to duke it out over FISA’s viable longevity.
On Friday, the U.S. House of Representatives voted to pass a rule that moved them closer to renewing Section 702 of FISA, which would otherwise expire on April 19, according to a report from ABC News. This section facilitates governmental surveillance and intelligence gathering on electronic communications on foreigners who are on U.S. soil without obtaining a warrant.
The House voted on Friday to consider the reworked legislation, would extend FISA for two more years instead of five and extend Section 702, via the NYT.
