Dick Cheney wants to read your email

To readers of this blog: I have received the following letter from a friend who is connected with the American Civil Liberties Union, an organization that tirelessly strives to protect for all Americans the Constitutional rights on which this country was founded. Please consider the information below; it is vitally important.


Dear Friend,

It's true. Dick Cheney is pushing Congress to allow the government to access Americans' conversations and emails without getting an individualized warrant.

The ACLU has been fighting in the courts and on Capitol Hill to halt the Bush secret program of warrantless domestic spying. Just last month, we won a tremendous victory when the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan declared the National Security Agency program unconstitutional and called for an immediate halt to this abuse of presidential power.

Stand with us today to protect your privacy and the rule of law.

Even as this important civil liberties victory works its way through the courts, the White House is playing politics with our privacy to bolster their numbers and appear "tough on terrorism." And now the Bush administration's allies in Congress are scrambling to find ways to keep their illegal activities moving forward with two bills drafted under Dick Cheney's supervision.

The bills – scheduled for debate in Congress this week – would expand the president's power, and allow for new ways to invade your privacy. Now is the time to tell Congress to protect your privacy and the rule of law.

The Cheney legislation is characterized by some as "surveillance we can live with," but it would vastly expand the government's power to search and spy on Americans without any individualized judicial check. It would even set government spies loose on any email you send if the government does not know where all the recipients are physically located.

If these bills pass, our homes, cell phone records and email inboxes will be vulnerable to new kinds of government spying that are currently completely illegal. But we have a chance to stop these bills this week, before White House pressure drives them to a speedy vote.

The Cheney bills are worse than the powers ceded to the government by the Patriot Act, and would write into law what is now the administration's belief that the president can wiretap any American he wants without any check required by the Fourth Amendment or without any meaningful check to protect individual rights. If these bills pass, nothing will prevent government agents from unilaterally targeting Americans for indefinite secret surveillance without cause. That's not America; with your help, we will ensure these bills do not pass.

Your voice is critical right now. Please take action today.

Sincerely,

Anthony D. Romero
Executive Director
American Civil Liberties Union

P.S. Don't be deceived by claims that these bills will protect your privacy and restore judicial review. To learn more, visit our website.