Tell Congress to restore your right to due process and electronic privacy!
In the wake of the 2012 presidential election, Congress and the Obama administration enjoy several opportunities to advance civil rights and civil liberties. Constitutional rights and principles are important to all Americans, yet leaders from each of the major political parties, in spite of their oaths of office, remain committed to assaulting them.
Raise your voice today!
First, add your name below to the legions of other Americans who share your concerns about warrantless wiretapping, indefinite and arbitrary military detention within the United States, and outdated protections for electronic privacy.
Second, look up your members of Congress and call their offices to reinforce your concerns. If Congress proceeds on its current trajectory, it will address none of these concerns this year. Only if members hear a groundswell can we hope for our constitutional rights to gain ground during this year’s lame-duck period.
For more information about the various pieces of legislation addressed in this petition, visit BORDC's further analysis offering more detail about these assaults on your rights.
As your constituent, I implore you to:
1. Vote against the proposed extension of the 2008 amendments to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) until the National Security Agency finally answers congressional questions about how many Americans have been impacted by the agency’s admitted violations of FISA’s permissive boundaries.
2. Co-sponsor the JUSTICE Act to (a) prohibit the NSA’s bulk intelligence collection without individualized suspicion of criminal activity, as the Constitution requires, and (b) overrule the Supreme Court’s decision in Holder v. Humanitarian Law Project and reinstate an intent requirement to justify convictions for “material support” of terror.
3. Vote against the proposed re-authorization of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) until it is amended to strike sections 1021 and 1022 from the NDAA of 2012. Those sections could potentially authorize indefinite and arbitrary military detention within the United States, with all the historical horrors that have accompanied such disturbing and unconstitutional executive power.
4. Co-sponsor, and vote in favor of, proposed amendments to the Electronic Communications Privacy Act (ECPA) of 1986 to protect Fourth Amendment rights and uphold the integrity of law enforcement in the digital age. With our nation’s privacy laws now profoundly out of date, it is important that emails, online documents, and text messages finally gain the same protections from unreasonable search and seizure as phone calls, postal mail, and paper documents.
I am following these vital civil liberties issues closely and eagerly await your reply and subsequent updates.
Sincerely,