Independence Institute, http://i2i.org

No person’s liberty is safe in the last week of Congress—traditionally a time when civil liberties invasions such as wire-tapping, gun prohibitions, and the like are snuck through in the final frantic hours, with no opportunity for public opposition. This Congress is no exception. As soon as Tuesday, the House may vote on a bill, which has already passed the Senate, to drastically expand government power to conduct secret searches without judicial approval.

The bill in question comes from Senators Patrick Leahy (D-Vermont) and Orrin Hatch (R-Utah). It is S. 2516, "The Fugitive Apprehension Act." The bill allows the government to obtain any kind of document it wants, without first getting a search warrant or a subpoena from a court. These documents include any written or electronic document possessed by an individual—or possessed by a third party (such as bank records, credit card records, telephone records, school records, or an Internet Service Provider’s customer records). In other words, the bill guts the Fourth Amendment requirement that private documents should be searched only after a court issues a warrant based upon probable cause.

Even worse, section 3(g) of the bill allows these document seizures to be conducted secretly, so that the individual might never be told that his bank records, Internet records, or other documents have been searched by the government.

The bill currently applies to apprehension of "fugitives," which include people who have been charged (not convicted) of a crime, at both the federal or state level. In other words, if your wife’s second cousin never showed up in court for his drunk driving trial, the government could look at your bank records, telephone records, Internet records, and every other document about you—without a court order, and without ever telling you.

There is no law enforcement need for this provision. Under the All Writs Act, a United States Attorney can go to court, and present reasons why he needs access to private records. If the court agrees (it almost always does), the court issues a subpoena to obtain the records. This system is working well, and, notably, the United States Attorneys are not asking to change the law.

Even so, there is a very strong chance that S. 2516 will become law next week, unless Congress hears of widespread opposition. The American Civil Liberties Union, which is leading the fight against the bill on Capitol Hill, is urging to citizens to contact their Representatives and their Senators over the weekend and on Tuesday morning, in every way possible: at town hall meetings, by calling DC and local Congressional offices, and by sending e-mail or faxes. Because House Speaker Dennis Hastert has great discretion over whether to bring S. 2516 to the House floor, King urges people all over the U.S. to call his office.

The main Congressman opposing S. 2516 is Representative Bob Barr (R-Georgia). The very conservative Barr is a former United States Attorney, and one of the most prominent "law and order" Republicans in Congress—as shown by his leadership in the effort to impeach President Clinton. While the ACLU is generally considered liberal, and Barr conservative, both agree that protecting the Fourth Amendment transcends party or ideology.

Should S. 2516 become law, it would set a precedent for warrantless, secret searches on other subjects—including firearms laws. This is one reason why Barr, one of the staunchest Second Amendment defenders in Congress, is opposing the bill.