Yesterday, the Senate Judiciary Committee held a brief hearing on Sen. Patrick Leahy's PATRIOT Act extension, which would add some oversight language to the three sunsetting provisions. Leahy's Republican colleagues on the committee were averse to any kind of oversight. The argument was that since there haven't been any major terror attacks since 9/11, the PATRIOT Act is "working" and shouldn't be tampered with. By that logic, no amount of abuse by those powers by the executive branch would warrant reforms, unless a terror attack happens, which would subsequently justify more intrusive powers. Sen. Jon Kyl seemed particularly resistant, which is peculiar since Leahy's office released a statement noting that he voted for a similar bill two years ago. The committee vote is scheduled for March 3, so we'll see how that goes.
Also, in case you missed it, here's Julian Sanchez owning Andy McCarthy on roving wiretaps. Here's what I don't understand -- how can someone who claims to genuinely believe that the president of the United States is aiding the Muslim Brotherhood's secret plan for world domination want the executive branch to have nigh-limitless surveillance powers subject to little oversight?
