FISA bill: it's not just about electronic surveillance

I followed up on a comment to one of my posts about the FISA bill (HR 6304, soon to be voted on in the Senate) and did some reading at Repeal FISA, a new website dedicated to the repeal of the current laws governing foreign intelligence gathering.

Besides the problems I described in my earlier post, I learned a new, frightening fact about HR 6304: it allows warrantless physical searches.

Up to this point, FISA has been about electronic surveillance; in other words, listening in on telephone calls and internet traffic. The new bill further tramples on the Fourth Amendment by allowing the government to perform physical searches without a warrant for up to seven days.

More here.

The Fourth Amendment to the Constitution:

The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.

Call your Senators if this concerns you.

So this is how liberty dies... to thunderous applause.

-- Senator Padme, The Revenge of the Sith