To me, the essential problem, and there are many others, but the essential problem with the proposed FISA amendments, is that it would hand to Attorney General Alberto Gonzales more power to obviate the need for court supervision of government surveillance. And that to me, is sheer insanity.

Personally, as long as Alberto Gonzales is the Attorney General of the United States, no sane legislator can support any amendments to FISA that weaken court oversight of a Justice Department run amok. I think it is time for STRONGER court oversight. Call it the Gonzales Amendment.

Update: Myths and Facts About FISA.

****

Republicans have been pushing to amend FISA before the August recess. A hearing of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence at which Director of National Intelligence Mike McConnell was scheduled to testify today has been canceled.

Yesterday, for the first time, McConnell briefed Sen. Arlen Specter on the NSA program. While Specter hasn't discussed what he learned at the briefing, after it he labeled attempts to impeach or bring perjury charges against Alberto Gonzales "premature."

We need to slow down this train. FISA doesn't need to be gutted or amended. It needs to be followed.

"FISA was enacted to ensure that no president could unilaterally decide who to secretly and indefinitely wiretap under the guise of national security. These bills would allow terrorism to be used as a pretext for undermining our basic Fourth Amendment rights. Congress should not pass the bills which give the president a blank check to violate the rights of innocent Americans."

Congress should just say no to gutting FISA.

Update below: FISA action may not be off the table after all:

Senators will vote tomorrow on restoring habeas corpus rights to detainees and others who were stripped of those rights by the Military Commissions Act.

Via the Bill of Rights Defense Committee (received by e-mail):

If your senator were to call you this evening, and ask you what kind of vote she or he should make on habeas corpus on Tuesday, July 17, what would you answer?

[Would you answer]Yes, I want habeas corpus restored for all people from whom the Military Commmissions Act stripped that right--including U.S. residents who are not full citizens?

Or would you focus on the Guantanamo Bay detainees, who have been imprisoned for years without the benefit of this basic mandate of fairness?

The bill that will most comprehensively dismantle the Military Commissions Act is S. 576. The bill that will simply restore habeas, but not touch torture or accountability is S. 185.

More...

Here we praised Montana, and here Maine, for opposing the Real ID Act. Today we celebrate New Hampshire.

New Hampshire Gov. John Lynch last week signed into law a bill that forbids New Hampshire government agencies from complying with the controversial federal national identification act, or Real ID bill.

Lynch explains:

"Real ID is intended to make us all safer, which I think we can all agree is a laudable goal," said Lynch in a statement. "However, I strongly believe Real ID's proposed haphazard implementation and onerous provisions would have the exact opposite effect. The federal government obviously did not think this burdensome system through and that is why we in New Hampshire are right to reject it."

Ding, Dong, S. 1639 is dead.

The Senate drove a stake Thursday through President Bush's plan to legalize millions of unlawful immigrants, likely postponing major action on immigration until after the 2008 elections.

The bill's supporters fell 14 votes short of the 60 needed to limit debate and clear the way for final passage of the legislation, which critics assailed as offering amnesty to illegal immigrants. The vote was 46 to 53 in favor of limiting the debate.

The roll call vote results are here. While the defeat is considered a "stinging setback" for President Bush, I'm glad it's dead for other reasons. The path to citizenship was too onerous and the bill failed to preserve the principles of family reunification and protect workers' rights. It was too heavy on border enforcement and too punitive.

We probably won't see another bill until 2009, when we have a new President, hopefully a Progressive Democrat and a new Congress.

Looking ahead, here's what I think a 2009 bill should include. In fact, I'm going to call it the TalkLeft Immigration Reform Act of 2009 (TIRA). This is a work in progress and I may propose Amendments as time goes on.

More..

Just when you thought it was over, the Senate today voted to review the immigration bill. Debate is beginning now on dozens of amendments. You can watch it on C-Span here.

Prediction: The compromises will dilute the value of the bill to nothing. The path to citizenship is already is too onerous. Family reunification principles are already devalued. Concessions to Republicans are likely to make it worse.

The bill is S 1639, which you can view on THOMAS by typing the bill number in the search box.

There is one bi-partisan amendment that I favor and the Bush Administration opposes:

More...

Today is June Action Day (background here) on Capitol Hill. Thousands gathered in support of bills introduced to restore the right to habeas corpus, close Guantanamo and fix the broken military commissions system.

A hearing on the bills begins at 2:00 pm (ET).

From the ACLU (received by e-mail):

Over eighty organizations, led by the American Civil Liberties Union, Amnesty International USA, the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights, and the National Religious Campaign Against Torture, came together to organize a rally and lobby visits to Congress. In addition to the rally, attendees at the Day of Action to Restore Law & Justice delivered over 250,000 petition signatures to Washington lawmakers, urging them to:

1. Restore habeas corpus and due process.
2. Pass the Restoring the Constitution Act of 2007.
3. End torture and abuse in secret prisons.
4. Stop extraordinary rendition: secretly kidnapping people and sending them to countries that torture.
5. Close the detention center at Guantánamo Bay and give those held currently access to justice.

Christy at Firedoglake provides the phone numbers for you to call. Today is the day to make yourself heard.

More...

Last month, I wrote about Sen. Tom Harkin's bill to close Guantanamo within 120 days of passage. The ACLU has more on the bill, the Guantanamo Bay Detention Facility Closure Act - S. 1469.

I will be interviewing Sen. Harkin today by telephone at 4:45 ET. (Update: Sen. Harkin has to reschedule for later this week due to negotiations on the immigration bill.) If you have some questions or thoughts about the bill, please put them in the comments.

It may take me a day or two to write up the interview, so please check back.

The text of the bill is here.

As to the bill's specifics:

More....

Tomorrow is a big day in Washington, courtesy of the American Civil Liberties Union, Amnesty International (USA), the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights and the National Religious Campaign Against Torture. More information is available here.

Thousands of Americans are storming Capitol Hill to participate in a 'Day of Action to Restore Law and Justice' to rally and then call on Congress to restore habeas corpus, fix the Military Commissions Act, end torture and rendition and restore our constitutional rights. Activists from all fifty states will gather at Upper Senate Park on June 26, 2007 and deliver over 170,000 signatures to Congress, urging the restoration of our rights.

The point:

For nearly seven years, the Bush administration has torn down our fundamental rights and freedoms - from the suspension of habeas corpus and due process, to acts of torture, CIA kidnappings and secret prison programs. And on June 26, the American people will stand up in Washington, and demand those rights and freedoms be restored.

The rally is from 11:30 AM to 1:00 PM, at Upper Senate Park (Constitution Ave. between New Jersey and Delaware Avenues, NE), Washington, DC.

More...

The Senate version of legislation to renew the Higher Education Act, notable for its increased funding of Pell Grants, also includes a welcome but less noticed provision:

The Senate legislation would also eliminate from the federal financial aid application a controversial question asking whether applicants have been convicted of drug possession while receiving federal student aid. That question has been used to identify and strip financial aid from thousands of students. While the Senate bill would leave the drug possession penalty in the law, dropping the question from the federal financial aid form would make enforcement of the provision very difficult.

Tom Angell, government relations director at Students for Sensible Drug Policy, responds sensibly:

“While it would be more appropriate to simply erase the penalty from the lawbooks altogether, we support the committee’s effort to make sure that students with drug convictions can get aid just like anyone else.”

SSDP makes it easy to contact your senator to support the change by visiting this page.

Were Democrats asleep at the switch Friday, or what?

The Homeland Security funding bill (H.R. 2638) came up for a vote in the House. Rep. Tom Tancredo (R-CO) tacked on an amendment preventing what he calls "sanctuary cities" from receiving federal funding. What's a "sanctuary city?" It's not defined, but Tancredo uses it to describe cities in which local police don't assist the feds in busting the undocumented. He lists Denver and Boulder as examples.

Tancredo has tried to get this amendment passed seven times before and failed each time. Today, in a surprise move, he succeeded. The vote was 234 to 189, with 50 Democrats voting in favor. (More on the votes here.)

THOMAS describes the Amendment:

More...

The latest New York Times poll shows a strong majority of Americans favor allowing undocumented residents to obtain legal status:

Taking a pragmatic view on a divisive issue, a large majority of Americans want to change the immigration laws to allow illegal immigrants to gain legal status and to create a new guest worker program to meet future labor demands, the poll found.

Two-thirds of those polled said illegal immigrants who had a good employment history and no criminal record should gain legal status as the bill proposes, which is by paying at least $5,000 in fines and fees and receiving a renewable four-year visa.

The respondents weren't specifically asked about the compromise legislation.

More...