A bill to amend the FISA Amendments Act of 2008 to extend the authorities of title VII of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978, and for other purposes.

The extension of FISA authorities is generally within Congress's power under Article I, Section 8, Clauses 14 (make rules for the government of the land and naval forces) and 18 (necessary and proper clause) to provide for the national defense, as well as the President's inherent executive power in foreign intelligence under Article II. However, such surveillance must comply with the Fourth Amendment's prohibition against unreasonable searches and seizures. As argued in Federalist No. 31, Congress's powers must be construed liberally for the common defense, but in Federalist No. 84, I cautione…

This bill extends federal surveillance authorities without explicit constitutional warrant, violating the Fourth Amendment's protection against unreasonable searches and seizures. The Tenth Amendment reserves to the states and the people all powers not delegated to the United States; foreign intelligence surveillance is not among the enumerated powers, and such broad authority threatens individual liberty and the right to free association under the First Amendment.

The extension of surveillance authorities under FISA must be judged by the same standard I applied in Federalist No. 47: the accumulation of all powers, legislative, executive, and judiciary, in the same hands is the very definition of tyranny. The Fourth Amendment requires that searches and seizures be reasonable and supported by probable cause; any surveillance of citizens must be particularized and not general. However, the Constitution also grants Congress the power to provide for the common defense (Article I, Section 8). A general warrant for electronic surveillance of Americans would vi…

This bill proposes to extend surveillance authorities under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. The Constitution vests in Congress the power to provide for the common defense and to make all laws necessary and proper for executing that power, as well as the powers of the President as Commander in Chief. However, the Fourth Amendment secures the people against unreasonable searches and seizures, and any extension of surveillance must be carefully confined to foreign intelligence gathering, not domestic law enforcement, and must respect the warrant requirement for searches of U.S. persons…