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<\/a>\u00a0<\/p>\nOur Government\u2019s Growing Disregard for the 4th Amendment <\/span><\/span><\/b><\/span><\/p>\n The Amash – Conyers Ammendment <\/span><\/span><\/b><\/span><\/p>\n An Unusual Alliance<\/span><\/span><\/b><\/span><\/p>\n By Scott Rohter, July 2013 – Updated May 2014<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Congressman Justin Amash<\/p><\/div>\n The 4th Amendment states in part, \u201cThe Right of the People to be secure in their persons, houses, papers and effects against unreasonable searches and seizures shall not be violated\u2026\u201d<\/i> It does not say that it might be violated whenever the White House thinks that it should be violated, or that it can be violated under certain circumstances with\u00a0an order from a FISA Court.\u00a0There are enough willful, indiscriminate violations of the 4th Amendment going on in our country right now to\u00a0make even Russia’s Vladimir “Ras-Putin” blush and prompt the Kremlin to issue a public\u00a0apology on behalf of the KGB for providing the\u00a0official\u00a0role model for our NSA. America is not living up to its reputation as the land of the free anymore, and about the only brave that are left here at home\u00a0seem to be those politicians who have enough bravado or chutzpah to routinely and regularly violate our Constitution and the Bill of Rights with apparent impunity. The rest of the brave are overseas fighting wars that should have been over by now.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n What the hell is the matter with some of the people that we elect and send to Washington to represent us? Do they even know who or what we should\u00a0actually be afraid of and what we\u00a0need to be\u00a0secure from? It\u2019s not\u00a0a\u00a0bunch of\u00a0bearded old men\u00a0in dirty\u00a0robes\u00a0hiding in\u00a0some faraway cave in south-eastern Afghanistan. It is actually clean shaven domestic\u00a0culprits\u00a0in Washington\u00a0 who are wearing designer suits. They are\u00a0working the halls of Congress and plotting to destroy many of what\u2019s left of our civil liberties!<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/i><\/b><\/p>\n Some time\u00a0ago there was a vote in Congress on an amendment to the Defense Appropriations Bill. It was called the Amash \u2013 Conyers Amendment. It was an unusual alliance between a brash young Republican and an old time Democrat. Justin Amash is a young Republican Congressman from Michigan, and John Conyers is\u00a0one of the\u00a0typical old\u00a0style Democrats in Congress from the same state. They normally\u00a0do not agree on\u00a0much of anything, but they did\u00a0agree to co-sponsor this amendment.\u00a0The Amash \u2013 Conyers Amendment sought to scale back some of the excessive monitoring and electronic data collecting activities of the NSA that have steadily and insidiously been\u00a0committed by that agency since 9\/11,\u00a0ever since the passage of the Patriot Act. This is the type of\u00a0alliance that\u00a0serves our country well. I would like to see more of these kind of across the aisle alliances.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Michele Bachmann<\/p><\/div>\n It was a close vote. The roll call was 217 to 205, but unfortunately the Amendment to prohibit the routine surveillance of all Americans and the transfer of\u00a0your phone records\u00a0even when you are not the subject of a terrorist investigation or the object of a FISA Court order was narrowly defeated. Some of the more notable members of Congress who basically voted\u00a0to continue the\u00a0current practice of mass telephone surveillance of all American citizens are Michele Bachman from Minnesota, Steven King from Iowa, Peter King from New York, Greg Walden from Oregon, Paul Ryan from Wisconsin, Eric Canter from Virginia, and John “Bonehead” Boehner from Ohio. Congressmen Boehner, Canter, Walden and Ryan are all members of the House Republican leadership.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Louie Ghomert<\/p><\/div>\n On the other side of this important issue there were some real American patriots who voted to end this practice of mass surveillance of American citizens by the NSA. Some of the more notable members of Congress who voted to stop this\u00a0infringement of our 4th Amendment Rights are Republican Congressman Louie Ghomert of Texas,\u00a0Republican\u00a0Tom McClintock of California,\u00a0Democrat\u00a0Peter De Fazio of Oregon,\u00a0Republican\u00a0Justin Amash of Michigan,\u00a0 and Democrat\u00a0John Conyers of Michigant. The vote on this amendment went across Party lines and it surprised many people, myself included.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n The Obama Administration lobbied hard to defeat the Amash \u2013 Conyers Amendment which targeted Section 215 of the Patriot Act and had an enforcement mechanism and a defunding provision for these unlawful activities of the NSA, but in the end the President had his way. He won. An alternative amendment called the Pompano Amendment which is a much weaker attempt at regulating\u00a0the National Security Agency\u00a0did pass afterwards by a voice vote. It merely reiterates the principle that non-suspect Americans are not supposed to be targeted by surveillance activities. It targets a different section of the Patriot Act, specifically section 702. It does not have a defunding provision and there is no enforcement mechanism. This basically leaves the indiscriminate routine telephone surveillance practices of the NSA intact and unaffected by any Congressional oversight.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n James Sensenbrenner<\/p><\/div>\n One of the original writers of the Patriot Act is Congressman James Sensenbrenner of Wisconsin. As head of the committee that drafted the Patriot Act he probably knows it better than most, and he has a better understanding of what that particular legislation was supposed to do than most other Congressmen. Yesterday he voted Yes on the Amash \u2013 Conyers Amendment to curtail the growing, unlawful activities of the NSA. He voted to scale back its excessive monitoring and data collecting capabilities. He voted to prohibit the National Security Administration from indiscriminately monitoring American citizens who are neither the subjects of a terrorist investigation or a FISA Court order. \u201cThis is no longer the law that I wrote\u201d,<\/em> Congressman Sensenbrenner said of the Patriot Act. Congressman David Schweikert of Kansas also agrees with him. He said the Patriot Act has become, “an open season to fish in constitutionally prohibited waters”.<\/em><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n Collecting\u00a0unnecessary phone company data\u00a0about telephone\u00a0customers who are lawful American citizens and not the subjects of any terrorist investigation is absolutely wrong. It goes\u00a0beyond the original intent of the Patriot Act.\u00a0After the defeat of the Amash – Conyers Amendment then both Congressman David Schweikert and James Sensenbrenner as well as everyone else who backed the stronger Amash \u2013 Conyers Amendment\u00a0 voted yes on the Pompano Amendment in a voice vote.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n If you liked this article then please subscribe to my free RSS Newsfeed on this page and also here at www.lessgovisthebestgov.com<\/a>\u00a0\u00a0 Then join a great group of concerned patriots at www.wepluribus.net<\/a><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Corroborating Source Material<\/strong><\/p>\n http:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/blogs\/wonkblog\/wp\/2013\/07\/25\/justin-amash-almost-beat-the-nsa-next-time-he-might-do-it\/<\/a><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Select Related Articles<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/b><\/p>\n http:\/\/lessgovisthebestgov.com\/Bill-of-Rights-nibbling-away-freedom.html<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n https:\/\/lessgovisthebestgov.com\/blog\/crafting-a-democratic-police-state-right-here-in-america.html<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n https:\/\/lessgovisthebestgov.com\/blog\/the-greatest-threat-to-our-freedom-this-memorial-day.html<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n https:\/\/lessgovisthebestgov.com\/blog\/a-sharply-divided-u-s-supreme-court-gives-police-the-power-to-collect-d-n-a.html<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a>