{"id":9890,"date":"2024-02-15T05:59:02","date_gmt":"2024-02-15T00:29:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cccfornews.com\/index.php\/2024\/02\/15\/house-republicans-urge-gop-to-protect-constitutional-rights-as-congress-considers-reauthorizing-government-surveillance-program\/"},"modified":"2024-02-15T05:59:02","modified_gmt":"2024-02-15T00:29:02","slug":"house-republicans-urge-gop-to-protect-constitutional-rights-as-congress-considers-reauthorizing-government-surveillance-program","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cccfornews.com\/index.php\/2024\/02\/15\/house-republicans-urge-gop-to-protect-constitutional-rights-as-congress-considers-reauthorizing-government-surveillance-program\/","title":{"rendered":"House Republicans Urge GOP to Protect Constitutional Rights as Congress Considers Reauthorizing Government Surveillance Program"},"content":{"rendered":"


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Thirty House Republicans sent a letter to House leadership, calling for them to protect Second and Fourth Amendment rights as the House considers reauthorizing a government surveillance program.<\/p>\n

Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) allows the U.S. government to spy on noncitizens in other countries, including communications with Americans, according to The Hill<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The bill does not require a warrant.<\/p>\n

The letter, addressed to Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) and House Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-LA), reads, \u201cWe write to urge you to protect the Second and Fourth Amendment rights of innocent, law-abiding gun owners from the Biden Administration\u2019s exploitation of a lawless government surveillance loophole.\u201d<\/p>\n

Signatories then discussed a report detailing that the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the Treasury Department \u201cbought Americans\u2019 phone location data without a court order.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cOrdinarily, these agencies would need a judge-issued warrant before forcing phone or tech companies to turn over their customers\u2019 location data,\u201d the letter adds. \u201cBut creative government lawyers have decided that the Fourth Amendment does not apply to Americans\u2019 sensitive, personal data \u2014 if the government buys it from data brokers.\u201d<\/p>\n

Embracing this \u201clegal loophole\u201d is a \u201cserious threat to Americans\u2019 privacy,\u201d the Republicans assert. \u201cIt further undoes Congress\u2019s clear intent in protecting precisely this kind of sensitive information through enactment of the Electronic Communications Privacy Act of 1986. Location information and other private information about Americans\u2019 lives, including where an American prays, where and when they drive their children to school, and if they have visited a gun store or shooting range.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe threat to Americans\u2019 Second and Fourth Amendment rights is not limited to the government\u2019s purchase of location data. Commercial data brokers openly sell marketing lists containing the name, address, and other personal information identifying \u2018gun owners\u2019 and \u2018shooting fanatics,\u2019 as well as specialized lists, like \u2018concealed carry \u2013 licensed gun owners,\u2019 \u2018affluent gun owners,\u2019 and \u2018age 70+; elderly gun owners.\u2019 Unfortunately, the same legal loophole that the Biden Administration has embraced to purchase Americans\u2019 location data could equally apply to the purchase of commercial lists identifying gun owners.\u201d<\/p>\n

The representatives urged House leadership to \u201cclose the data broker loophole\u201d in what they described as a \u201conce-in-a-generation opportunity\u201d to do so.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor decades, Congress has legislatively protected gun-owning Americans\u2019 rights. But decades-old privacy laws will continue in name only if the Biden Administration is allowed to continue this brazen surveillance of Americans without court orders,\u201d the Republicans wrote.<\/p>\n

The Republicans who signed the letter include:<\/p>\n