Russ Feingold Tried to Warn Us About Section 215 of the Patriot Act

Wisconsin voters replaced the civil-liberties champion with an ostensibly Tea Party senator -- who doesn't seem to care about government snooping. 

 

Conor Friedersdorf,  Jun 14 2013, 8:00 AM ET

 

In September 2009, Russ Feingold, the only senator to vote against the Patriot Act when it was first proposed, released a statement expressing concern that critical information about the way it was being used hadn't been released, "information that I believe would have a significant impact on the debate." He singled out "information about the use of Section 215 orders that I believe Congress and the American people deserve to know," adding that "before we decide whether and in what form to extend these authorities, Congress and the American people deserve to know at least basic information about how they have been used." (Section 215 allows the government to use the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court to compel businesses to turn over certain information.) Congress ought to add limits to the bill "that allow agents to actively pursue criminals, terrorists and spies, but that also protect the privacy of innocent Americans," Feingold said, or else more privacy abuses would happen.