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Freedom, Privacy, and Civil Liberties

  • PATRIOT Act

    John remains fully committed to keeping Americans safe from the ongoing threat of domestic terrorism, and the PATRIOT Act is an important tool for law enforcement in the war on terror. When John came to the Senate in 2003, it became obvious to him that the original PATRIOT Act was out of balance. Although the law contained powerful, yet important, tools needed by law enforcement to prevent terrorist attacks, it lacked essential safeguards for the privacy and civil liberty rights of law abiding Americans. John became a leading voice on Capitol Hill to improve the PATRIOT Act.

    His bipartisan work to reauthorize the measure was guided by a commitment to strike a better balance between the essential investigatory tools for law enforcement and civil liberty rights. With debate on the issue at an impasse over civil liberty concerns raised by John and other members of a bipartisan group of Senators in late 2005 and early 2006, John crafted a legislative solution that enabled both Houses of Congress to move forward on efforts to renew the anti-terrorism law. The “USA PATRIOT Act Additional Reauthorizing Amendments Act” (S. 2271), which John introduced in February 2006, reflected an agreement he and his Senate colleagues reached with the White House to include new civil liberty protections in addition to the numerous other protections the Senators included in the reauthorized PATRIOT Act. President Bush signed the PATRIOT Act reauthorization conference report (H.R. 3199) and John’s bill, S. 2271, into law on March 9, 2006.

    In his continued effort to protect civil liberties, John joined Senator Russ Feingold (D-WI) in the fall of 2007 in introducing bipartisian legislation to address the FBI’s misuse of National Security Letters (NSL) -- a type of secret subpoena used by the FBI -- detailed in a March 2007 report by the Inspector General for the Department of Justice. “The National Security Reform Act” (S. 2088) provides new statutory safeguards and protections and addresses the Constitutional concerns regarding the restrictions imposed on the recipients of NSL’s.


  • REAL ID

    From the beginning of the identification security debate, John has opposed a national identity card and argued that the states and other interested parties must be given an equal seat at the table with the federal government as the nation works to increase this protection. New Hampshire and other states have proven they take this national security concern seriously and are capable of addressing it without intrusive and unfunded federal mandates.

    John has consistently worked to repeal the REAL ID Act and, on February 28, 2007, reintroduced with Senator Daniel Akaka (D-HI) the “Identification Security Enhancement Act of 2007” (S. 717) which would establish a negotiated rulemaking procedure for developing minimum standards for drivers’ licenses, eliminate some of the more onerous and costly requirements of REAL ID, and mandate safeguards for privacy and civil liberties.

    Fighting REAL ID and reestablishing the procedures for securing the nation’s identification that were contained in the Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act of 2004 remain John’s commitment. This widely supported law satisfied the 9/11 Commission’s recommendations regarding identification security while also remaining mindful of states’ rights.  Had this law not been hastily replaced by the REAL ID Act in 2005, it is likely that the states would be considerably closer to producing more secure licenses, all without the considerable backlash REAL ID has created.




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