Leadership Conference, Indivisible, ACLU, Free Press Action, Demand Progress and More Ask Dems to Not Give Stephen Miller a Clean 702 Reauthorization
Washington, D.C. — On Thursday, a coalition of more than 90 leading civil rights and progressive organizations convened by Demand Progress and Free Press Action sent a letter calling on congressional Democratic leaders not to reauthorize the government’s mass surveillance authority without enacting needed privacy reforms. This sweeping spying authority, also known as Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA), is set to expire next month on April 20 if Congress does not reauthorize it. Politico previously reported that White House Adviser Stephen Miller is pushing for an extension of Section 702 without reforms because he deems it “critical to a variety of homeland security missions.”
Demand Progress recently released a poll showing that only nine percent of Democratic voters think Congress should renew FISA without reforms. Conversely, 34 percent of Democrats think FISA should only be renewed with reforms and a whopping 46 percent think FISA should not be renewed at all.
“Democrats do not want this or any administration to have the power to trawl through Americans’ private emails and texts without warrants. Democratic leaders need to listen to the people and not just rubber-stamp the spy powers that Miller is asking for,” said Demand Progress Senior Policy Advisor Hajar Hammado. “This extends beyond partisan politics. No president should have the powers to hoover up Americans’ private communications, force janitors and security guards to spy on other Americans for them, or circumvent court orders by purchasing sensitive information about people in the United States from data brokers. As the government’s plans to supercharge surveillance with AI come into view, Congress must enact real reforms to curb invasive government spying.”
“Supporting Stephen Miller’s warrantless surveillance agenda would be a massive detriment to the privacy and civil rights and liberties of people in the United States,” stated the letter. “These surveillance authorities have long jeopardized privacy, and efforts by Miller to continue them without meaningful reforms and sufficient oversight are deeply troubling.”
The coalition includes more than 90 groups including the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, Indivisible, ACLU, Color of Change, Asian Americans Advancing Justice, Brennan Center for Justice, Public Citizen and many more organizations.