ACTION ALERT: Less Then 72 Hours to Stop Two Bad Bills

Your commitment to defend the rule of law can make the difference in stopping two dangerous bills: Senator Specter's bill to legalize warrantless wiretapping (S. 2453) and the military commissions bill (S. 3901). Republican Senators who have negotiated with the White House for "improvements" to the bills have actually made both bills worse. It's now up to us, the people, to tell our Senators loudly and forcefully that both bills must be stopped. The House has already passed the detainee bill. Only if we all spend a few minutes on the phone to Senate offices right now can we hope to have something to celebrate next week.

Updates on the bills:

• Rumors that Senator Specter's bill S. 2453 to legalize warrantless surveillance is dead are premature. The White House wants a bill before Congress leaves to campaign, so Senator Specter's bill may be tucked into another bill and voted on before Congress leaves Washington this Saturday.
• The detainee bill S. 3901 now contains an expanded definition of "enemy combatants," which could apply to U.S. persons who provide "material support" for terrorism. This change could mean that attorneys who represent Guantanamo detainees could themselves be detained. The current bill is no longer the bipartisan bill that the Senate Armed Services Committee passed, nor does it address the concerns voiced by several current and retired Judge Advocate Generals nor the shortcomings in the president's plan for military commissions that led to the administration's Supreme Court defeat in Hamdan. Senator Carl Levin's amendment to address some of the problems has already been defeated, and other amendments being introduced are unlikely to pass. A vote on the bill is expected on Thursday, 9/28.
  

Telephone your senators: Dial the Capitol Switchboard at 202 224-3121 (24 hours) and ask the operator to connect you, or go to http://www.senate.gov to look up your senators’ direct numbers.

Suggested message: Tell the person who answers the phone that you have problems with bills to legalize the President’s warrantless domestic wiretapping program and detainee policy. Ask Senator __________ to:

• Do everything possible to block the NSA bill (S. 2453) from legalizing the president's warrantless wiretapping program. No president should be allowed to monitor Americans' private telephone calls and emails without court warrants. Please block any attempt to add the bill to another one. Any bill that would abridge our Fourth Amendment rights must be considered carefully and must not be rushed through.
• Vote against the military commissions bill (S. 3501). The U.S. cannot be made safer by denying detainees being held rightly or wrongly the fundamental writ of habeas corpus or the basic human right not to be convicted on the basis of coerced testimony or hearsay evidence. While the Specter-Levin amendment would address one of those concerns, it falls far short of what is needed.

Click here for more BORDC talking points and helpful links on warrantless wiretapping

Click here for BORDC talking points and links on military commissions.