Although there was no compelling reason to revisit the FISA legislation that was left semi-comatose earlier this year–as several commentators have noted, the old legislation required only a small fix to deal with foreign-to-foreign calls routed through the U.S.–that estimable apologist for the Bush regime and ardent telecom spokesman, Missouri’s Kit Bond, took it upon himself to huddle with Steny Hoyer, lammentably the Democratic House Majority leader, and hatch an ugly deal they are billing as a “compromise.”  As the New  York Times stated today:

The bill is not a compromise. The final details are being worked out, but all indications are that many of its provisions are both unnecessary and a threat to the Bill of Rights. The White House and the Congressional Republicans who support the bill have two real aims. They want to undermine the power of the courts to review the legality of domestic spying programs. And they want to give a legal shield to the telecommunications companies that broke the law by helping Mr. Bush carry out his warrantless wiretapping operation.

 

This unnecessary give-away to the Republican minority, some Democrats, and their telecom purchasers, fails as the ACLU notes, on a number of fronts.  It permits illegal syping:

The Bond proposal says there is court review before surveillance starts. However, the court review can be eliminated when there are “exigent circumstances” that include situations where information will be lost if is time taken to apply for an order from the FISA court. By definition, it takes time to apply for a court order. With that soft of a trigger, when wouldn’t there be an exigent circumstance. … There are true emergencies that are reflected in the original FISA – as drafted this “compromise” will probably go way too far. This is quite possibly the quintessential case of the exception engulfing the rule.

Of course, given the rather blatant motivations of such spineless, lobbyist-dependent congressmen as Hoyer, and, in the past (and the future?), our own Claire McCaskill, this “compromise” includes  telecom immunity, which according to the ACLU analysis will:

Not only … kill cases seeking damages, it will kill the cases brought only to determine the very legality of President Bush’s domestic spying program. This clause is not just about protecting the telecoms; it’s about the government blocking any independent review of the constitutionality of its warrantless wiretapping program.

Even worse is the fact that this compromise was crafted in secret and efforts have been made to bring it to a quick vote before publicity can permit opponents to organize and bring pressure to bear on susceptible congresspeople. Glenn Greenwald has described the machinations of the telecoms, and the comlicityof Democrats in Congress:  

There are reports from very reliable sources that Hoyer, after engineering this “compromise” and ensuring it has enough votes to pass, will then vote against it so he can claim it’s not his fault (as will Pelosi). Worse, the Democratic leadership in the Senate (Reid and Durbin) have been saying that while they oppose the “compromise” and will vote against it, they will do nothing to impede its passage.

So … what can we do?  As always, phone-calls and emails to our congressional representatives are the best first response. (Find contact information for the House here and Senate here.)  

However, this time we can go a step further. As Greenwald has noted (link above) our congress people need:

… to know that there is a bigger price to pay when they betray the promises they repeatedly make, the principles they continuously espouse, and the duties that they have to preserve basic precepts of equality under the law and core constitutional protections.

 

Consequently, Greenwald and a number of organizations have organized a drive to target Hoyer and other FISA traitors with ads that will make sure that their role in selling us out is well-known.  Read about it and contribute here.  

Contribute now! This is one of the most important fights we face and the alternative is to permit the ongoing erosion of American Democracy.