ACLU to pressure Congress over warrantless spying

The head of the nation's most prominent civil-liberties group vowed Monday to make sure that a bill to embolden a domestic wiretapping program authorized by President Bush "stays dead" when the new Congress comes to Washington in January.

The House last month passed a bill, H.R. 5825, to overhaul rules for wiretaps without warrants. The Senate companion measure, S. 2453, did not get a floor vote before lawmakers recessed for the mid-term election. Civil libertarians do not think the legislation has strong enough privacy protections.

American Civil Liberties Union Executive Director Anthony Romero said his group will pressure the 110th Congress to "accept responsibility for their oversight of the executive branch" and an "arrogant and unresponsive administration."

Romero spoke to more than 1,500 ACLU members who came to Washington this week for the organization's national conference. Following a full day of speakers, state delegations are scheduled to lobby on Capitol Hill on Tuesday.

In the years since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, Romero's group has pushed consistently for proper checks and balances on government power. The ACLU is the "first responder in the defense of the First Amendment" and the "first line in the defense of the Constitution," he said. "We went to court, went to Congress and went the distance."

In his keynote, Romero largely slammed the president and Republican leadership in Congress but said Democrats share the blame. Their "reticence, timidity and complicity enabled the Bush administration to damage our core American values," he said.

The eavesdropping bills' fate in the short, post-election session that is set to begin next month hinges on whether Republicans lose their leadership in either chamber, ACLU Washington Office Director Caroline Fredrickson said in an interview. "If Democrats take control, they won't let a bad spying bill get jammed through," she said.

If the GOP stays in power, portions of the spying measure could be attached to any number of vehicles, including must-pass appropriations bills, Fredrickson warned. The surveillance bills are unlikely to win approval through the standard process for reconciling tax and spending measures, she said.

Surveillance legislation is one of the main topics that ACLU members will take to the Hill on Tuesday. Almost 250 meetings have been planned with congressional offices.

"These are highly informed, committed voters and activists," Fredrickson said. "They're going to take that to their members of Congress and let them know what they think."

The conference opened Sunday with panels featuring Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, ACLU President Nadine Strossen, MSNBC political commentator Tucker Carlson and Air America Radio host Rachel Maddow.

Democratic strategist Donna Brazile, Nixon-era White House counsel John Dean, former Navy general counsel Alberto Mora and retired U.S. Ambassador Joe Wilson also were scheduled to speak at the summit.