Political Quotes

“It is difficult to debate an issue of such importance and have very good friends who are taking an opposite position. But I think that, in this case, we have to look very squarely at the literal reading of the Constitution. The First and Fourth Amendment literal reading makes it very clear that the Patriot Act is a destructive undermining of constitutional principles. There are extraordinary powers being given by the government, and it contravenes not just principles of the Constitution but our own oath to defend the Constitution. I want to speak to the provisions that are set for reauthorization here. Two of the provisions are contained in the Patriot Act, legislation that I opposed when it first came up because I believed that it was over-infringement on basic civil liberties, including freedom of speech. The first one, section 206, known as the John Doe wiretap, allows the FBI to obtain an order from the FISA, Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, to wiretap a target without having to specify the target or their device, and I challenged the constitutionality because I believe this provision severely undermines the Fourth Amendment, which requires warrants to describe the place to be searched and the person or things to be seized. This provision of the Patriot Act requires neither the target nor device to be identified.”