Political Quotes

“Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Madam Speaker, as a proud cosponsor, I rise in strong support of H.R. 7072, the NDO Fairness Act, crucial bipartisan surveillance reform legislation that recently passed out of the Judiciary Committee on a voice vote. This legislation would establish important guardrails for when the government seeks to access someone's electronic communications without that person's knowledge. Under current law, after the government obtains a court's permission to search the contents of a person's electronic communications, prosecutors must then compel the email service provider to produce the relevant data. To avoid having the service provider turn around and tell its customer about the search, the government can also ask the court to grant a nondisclosure order, colloquially referred to as a secrecy or gag order. Right now, there is no time limit to these orders. There is no standard to meet. All the government needs to do is cite one of five potential adverse results, with no showing that it is necessary, and the court may grant the request. This bill requires the government to show and the courts to be convinced that the secrecy order is actually needed, rather than allowing both to treat this as a check-the-box activity. Gag orders would be granted for a much shorter period of time, with the opportunity for extensions only as necessary.…”