Chattanooga Times Free Press /title> <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1"> <meta http-equiv="Last-Modified" content="Fri, 15 Sep 2006 08:00:00 GMT"> <meta name="keywords" content="fisa">  <script language="JavaScript">  </script> <script language="JavaScript1.2" src="fw_menu.js"></script> <style type="text/css">  </style> </head> <body topmargin="0" leftmargin="8" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" bgcolor="#ffffcc" onLoad="MM_preloadImages('images/pgalleryindexphotos/feinstein-history-rollover.gif','images/pgalleryindexphotos/misc-dfmeetpress-rollover.gif')"> <script language="JavaScript1.2">fwLoadMenus();</script> <table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="71%" height="800" bgcolor="#FEFFff" border="0">  <tr> <td colspan="2" height="140"><img src="images/banners/connected-banner2.jpg" alt="U.S. Senator Dianne Feinstein" width="760" height="174"></td> </tr> <tr> <td valign="top" width="183" height="614" bgcolor="FFFFCC"><img name="newpage1_r2_c1" src="images/newpage1_r2_c1.jpg" width="162" height="298" border="0" usemap="#m_newpage1_r2_c1" align="top"> <map name="m_newpage1_r2_c1"> <area shape="rect" coords="0,108,153,132" href="legislation.html" > <area shape="rect" coords="0,188,153,212" href="contact.html" > <area shape="rect" coords="0,242,153,266" href="spanish.html" > <area shape="rect" coords="1,270,154,294" href="sitemap.html" > <area shape="rect" coords="1,134,154,158" href="allvotes.html" > <area shape="rect" coords="-1,162,152,186" href="interns.html" onMouseOut="FW_startTimeout();" onMouseOver="window.FW_showMenu(window.fw_menu_0,155,337);" > <area shape="rect" coords="1,215,154,239" href="california_links.html" onMouseOut="FW_startTimeout();" onMouseOver="window.FW_showMenu(window.fw_menu_1,155,391);" > <area shape="rect" coords="1,80,154,104" href="service.html" onMouseOut="FW_startTimeout();" onMouseOver="window.FW_showMenu(window.fw_menu_2,155,256);" > <area shape="rect" coords="1,52,154,76" href="press_office.html" onMouseOut="FW_startTimeout();" onMouseOver="window.FW_showMenu(window.fw_menu_3,155,229);" > <area shape="rect" coords="0,26,153,50" href="biography.html" onMouseOut="FW_startTimeout();" onMouseOver="window.FW_showMenu(window.fw_menu_4,155,203);" > <area shape="rect" coords="0,0,153,24" href="index.html" > </map> <br> <form name="googlesearch" method="get" action="searchresults.cfm"><br> <input type="text" name="q" size="20" value="" /> <br> <input name="btnG" type="submit" id="go" value="Go" /><br> <input type="hidden" name="site" value="feinstein" /><br> <input type="hidden" name="num" value="10" /><br> <input type="hidden" name="filter" value="0" /> </form> <b></b><font size="2"><br> </font> <div align="center"><strong><font size="-1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><img src="images/homepage/stay_informed.gif" alt="Ways to Stay Informed" width="121" height="39"></font></strong></div> <p align="left"><font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2"><a href="issue.html"style="TEXT-DECORATION: none"><font color="#000099"> Sign up for my<br> </font></a></font><font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2" color="#000099"><a href="issue.html" style="TEXT-DECORATION: none"> E-Newsletter </a></font></p> <p align="left"><font color="#000099" size="2"><a href="newsletters/latest-newsletter.htm" style="TEXT-DECORATION: none"><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><font face="Palatino Linotype"><st1:State><st1:place><font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"> My Latest Report from Washington</font></st1:place></st1:State></font></font><font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"></font></a><br> <br> </font><font color="#000099" size="2"><font face="Palatino Linotype"><a href="breakfast.html" style="TEXT-DECORATION: none"><font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"> Visiting Washington? 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After all these months, legislation is finally moving in the Congress to address the president's radical overreaching for power. We are approaching a moment of truth. <BR class=br> <BR class=br> Congress has two choices. It can restrain the executive by requiring his surveillance program to operate under established law. Or it can shirk its constitutional duty to keep executive power in balance by trying to make President Bush's program legal. Competing Senate bills spell it out.<BR class=br> <BR class=br> Sen. Diane Feinstein's legislation would affirm the requirement for individualized court-issued warrants before electronic searches can be conducted. It would also expedite the process for securing those warrants. Her balanced approach recognizes both the importance of electronic surveillance in combating terrorism and the necessity of protecting the individual rights and liberties which define what it means to be an American.<BR class=br> <BR class=br> Sen. Arlen Specter's legislation has no balance. It enhances executive power and latitude, giving statutory approval to warrantless surveillance in many cases and to the concept of a single warrant to authorize an entire program of surveillance, even if thousands of individuals are targeted. The Specter bill would ensure that all judicial review of the president's program, and of any legal challenges to it, would be heard in secret by the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, where only government lawyers are allowed.<BR class=br> <BR class=br> No wonder the president approves of the Specter bill. The White House essentially wrote it.<BR class=br> <BR class=br> From the moment the illegal wiretapping program was revealed, President Bush has aggressively asserted an "inherent right" to do whatever he wants in terms of domestic surveillance.<BR class=br> <BR class=br> This president's inflated view of executive power is a threat to the Constitution. His once-secret surveillance program has already been declared illegal and unconstitutional at the district court level. He doesn't accept that, of course, and has appealed. But the Fourth Amendment protects Americans from unreasonable searches, and electronic searches conducted without showing probable cause for a warrant are by definition unreasonable.<BR class=br> <BR class=br> Sen. Specter and the president's other lapdogs in Congress cannot make an unconstitutional program legal by passing a law. But the Specter bill would give it the semblance of legality until the Supreme Court finally rules. The bill should not be passed.<BR class=br> <BR class=br> There was no justification for this program to begin with. The FISC would have granted any warrants needed to keep tabs on communication into or out of the United States by suspected terrorists or their supporters. The court has always acted quickly and has almost never denied a warrant application. Existing law even allows a wiretap without a warrant so long as one was sought within three days.<BR class=br> <BR class=br> Sen. Feinstein's bill would ease the burden on the executive to an even greater extent, allowing seven days before a warrant must be secured and ensuring additional staff to expedite the process. It meets any reasonable objections from the executive. It simply doesn't write the president a blank check.<BR class=br> <BR class=br> Interestingly, Sen. Specter was originally a co-sponsor of Sen. Feinstein's bill. Then the White House started applying the pressure, and Sen. Specter caved. The entire U.S. Senate should not emulate his spinelessness.<BR class=br> <BR class=br> It takes political fortitude to uphold the constitutional separation of powers when a president is so intent on amassing power to himself. But that is exactly when the courage to resist is needed most.<BR class=br> </font> </div> </CENTER> </div></td> </tr> </table> <p><img src="images/banners/floater.jpg" width="575" height="31" border="0" usemap="#Map"> <map name="Map"> <area shape="rect" coords="4,4,91,29" href="index.html" alt="Home"> <area shape="rect" coords="232,3,297,28" href="press_office.html" alt="News"> <area shape="rect" coords="466,4,561,30" href="sitemap.html" alt="Site Map"> <area shape="rect" coords="101,2,218,27" href="contact.html" alt="Contact Me"> <area shape="rect" coords="309,4,455,27" href="issue.html" alt="Issue Updates"> </map> <br> </p> </div> </td> </tr> <div align="left"> </div> </table> </body> </html>