Two weeks ago, Wired revealed disturbing details about how Rep. Mike Turner, Chairman of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence (HPSCI), has been privately lobbying his Republican colleagues to reauthorize Section 702 without warrant protections for people in the United States. Specifically, Turner used Americans engaged in a peaceful protest at Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer’s residence as an example of people who can and should be subject to “U.S. person queries,” or warrantless backdoor searches. This comes on the heels of revelations that the FBI has abused Section 702 to spy on tens of thousands of Americans engaged in “civil unrest,” including Black Lives Matter protesters.
The Brennan Center and Empire State Indivisible, joined by more than 30 civil liberties, free speech, and New York organizations, are urging Majority Leader Schumer and House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries to protect their constituents’ First Amendment right to protest by publicly calling for a warrant requirement for backdoor searches and a prohibition on the government using data brokers to buy its way around constitutional and statutory privacy protections. We also urge these leaders to oppose any efforts to reauthorize Section 702 that fail to include these basic protections for Americans’ civil liberties.
Coalition Letter – Protester Queries 4–2–24 by The Brennan Center for Justice on Scribd
