Rubio Weak on the Constitution?Senator Marco Rubio is backing an extension of the provisions of the Patriot Act that were set to expire this week, while labeling his fellow Senators Ted Cruz and Rand Paul weak on national security.
Either Senator Rubio is unserious about the Constitution, or he is horribly misinformed.
In reaction to the ISIS slaughter in Paris, Senator Marco Rubio’s policy on foreign threats to the United States includes backing a push to end the National Security Agency reforms that were put in place upon passage of the USA Freedom Act. The first-term Senator is claiming that the USA Freedom Act reforms would leave our intelligence agencies “fewer tools to defend the American people.”
Scoffing at the idea that the federal government is spying on Americans, Rubio recently said, “There are members of the Republican Party, that includes Senator Cruz and Senator Paul, who have argued that somehow the government is out there spying on everybody, so we need to gut these programs. That isn’t true.”
What “isn’t true” is that the USA Freedom Act “gutted” the Patriot Act. It did not. It effectively reversed the FISA court’s overbroad interpretation of the Patriot Act.
Either Senator Rubio is unserious about the Constitution, or he is horribly misinformed.
Rubio hasn’t mentioned one of the sponsors of the USA Freedom Act, Senator Mike Lee, who has been front and center on this issue and dedicated a chapter of his book, Our Lost Constitution, to the “Forgotten Fourth Amendment,” explaining its historical foundation and why it is so important to end bulk collection of Americans’ data.
In Chapter Five, Lee points to a Senate hearing in which the director of national intelligence, James Clapper, was asked, “Does the NSA collect any type of data at all on millions or hundreds of millions of Americans?” At the time, Clapper said that the NSA did not, at least not wittingly. But three months later, he admitted that his testimony was “clearly erroneous.” Marco Rubio was at that hearing, and the findings about bulk data collection hit the news cycle in a big way; so, has he forgotten?
If the government can justify gathering information on you because of someone else’s transgressions, there is no security for any of us.
The main issues are once again being downplayed by candidate Rubio so that he may claim that anyone who voted in favor of applying the Fourth Amendment is conspiratorial and is letting the terrorists win.
But Lee makes the issue very easy to comprehend. Going back to the fight between King George III and John Wilkes, Lee explains the battle for protection against general warrants and how it pertains to the technological world of today: “Warrants must describe ‘the place to be searched.’ They must name the ‘person or things to be seized.’ There must be ‘probable cause’ to support those warrants.” Why? Well, perhaps Marco Rubio doesn’t get it, but millions of Americans can see how an oppressive government might use its power against law-abiding citizens by simply compiling their data.
I wonder if Marco Rubio believes that national security means everyone should be under surveillance? I wonder if he believes the Fourth Amendment is outdated? If the government can justify gathering information on you because of someone else’s transgressions, there is no security for any of us. When everyone in the nation is not secure in their own person, papers or effects, which now includes your digital information, the whereabouts of your phone, and the even photos of your license plates at various locations, the Fourth Amendment is certainly forgotten, as Lee makes clear.
The FISA court dramatically expanded a provision of the Patriot Act under President Obama, giving him authorization to search Americans’ communications, a provision that was banned during the presidency of G.W. Bush. This reversal happened in 2011, and one should note the fact that the FISA court answers to no one but the administration. Are we to believe Marco Rubio doesn’t know anything about the FISA court? Are we looking at a candidate that eschews the United States Constitution and forgets the hearings he attends? Rubio praised Lee’s book when it came out, but perhaps he didn’t read it.
Rubio should at least know what the USA Freedom Act does, and that it does not “gut” the Patriot Act, but puts in place protections for the American people who are right now being treated as suspects in a War on Terror made more heinous by the policies of this president. In “McConnell the Anti-Patriot,” I wrote: “The USA Freedom Act stops the government from collecting data, shortens the amount of time that it can be stored by companies and therefore limits search time, and yet keeps in place the tools needed to search within the required warrant.” It stands in defense of the spirit of the Fourth Amendment, which promises that your personal effects cannot be taken without a warrant. Rubio’s push to delay those reforms amounts to an acceptance of a would-be police state in the one nation that came about because we demanded freedom.
Americans are losing their freedoms every day this president remains in office. But Marco Rubio’s attack—that Ted Cruz and Rand Paul, by voting to defend the Constitution, are somehow weak on national security—is a gross misrepresentation of the facts and shows utter disregard for the nation’s values, our Constitution, and our individual liberty.
In short, Rubio is arguing for more government control over you; Cruz, Paul, and Lee, less.
- See more at:
https://www.conservativereview.com/commentary/2015/11/rubio-weak-on-the-constitution#sthash.Bit1g3dq.dpuf
