On the recordJanuary 11, 2018
I am a former prosecutor and a former judge. I despise terrorists. We ought to go after them and get them. Section 702 was written to go after terrorists, but it is being used to go after Americans. Normally, when I was a judge, I would sign a warrant. Before the government could go into your house, they had to have a warrant to go into the house and to seize something based on probable cause. Under FISA, as it is used against Americans--forget the terrorists-- as it is used against Americans, government has already seized your house of communications, all of it. They look around, and sometimes-- sometimes--they go back to a secret judge in a secret court and get a secret warrant by a FISA judge, and they come in and seize something and prosecute based on something irrelevant about terrorism. That is why this bill violates the Fourth Amendment. Get a warrant before you go into the house of communications and effects and papers of Americans or stay out of that house. These documents have been seized. Communications have been seized by government. They are kept forever. Keep government out. Without a warrant, you stay out, because government, as we learned from the British, cannot be trusted. Get a warrant. Stay out of the house of communications. Vote against this bill. Let's redraft it and protect Americans. And that is just the way it is.
