Russ Feingold: “I spoke at some length this morning about this issue which I call the numbers game on the sneak and peek. Of course, the…”

“I spoke at some length this morning about this issue which I call the numbers game on the sneak and peek. Of course, the sneak-and-peek provision is not my only concern. There are four or five areas. But I am very concerned about the length of time that somebody does not get notice that the FBI has come into their home without their being aware of it and the idea that somehow, after very careful court decisions said there will be exceptions to the requirements of the fourth amendment for perhaps 7 days--that was the standard in the court decisions upon which these unusual sneak-and-peek provisions were based--then to somehow have it become reasonable to have a whole month, a 30-day period, strikes me as extreme. The 7-day standard was not picked out of the air. The 7-day standard was based on those court decisions which made the unusual law, in terms of our history as a country in the prohibition against unreasonable searches and seizures--the 7 days was based on those court decisions. So, yes, 30 days, four times more, is unreasonable. After the Government has come into somebody's home and they have had 7 days, why is it that they should not have to come back and get permission to do that for a longer period of time? What is the need for the Government to have 30 days to not tell somebody to do that, when you remember that the Senate version you and I both voted for had the 7-day period?”