Specter Questions Patriot Act in Hearing
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Raising the gavel with a grin, Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Arlen Specter opened his first hearing Thursday by allowing more criticism of the Bush administration than his predecessor and by questioning some of the Patriot Act's police powers.
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Senators frustrated by scant details on the Bush administration's domestic eavesdropping program on Wednesday rapped FBI Director Robert Mueller for refusing to show how it has curbed terrorist activity in the United States.
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Investigators must have a court's approval before they can order internet providers to turn over records without telling customers, according to U.S. District Judge Victor Marrero. The recently rewritten Patriot Act "offends the fundamental constitutional principles of checks and balances and separation of powers," the judge rules.
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Commissioner Roger Goodell said he was willing to meet with Senator Arlen Specter to explain the destruction of tapes from the N.F.L.âs investigation of the Patriots.
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Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman  Arlen Specter said on Wednesday he was proposing a $140 billion  trust fund to compensate asbestos victims while ending their  right to sue for damages.
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Senator Arlen Specter wants N.F.L. Commissioner Roger Goodell to explain why the league destroyed evidence related to spying by the New England Patriots.
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A former lawyer for Phil Spector testified to prosecutors in the music producer&#39;s murder trial on Thursday after being threatened with jail time if she refused to give evidence.
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NFL commissioner Roger Goodell told Sen. Arlen Specter face-to-face that he doesn't regret destroying the Spygate tapes.
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Sen. Arlen Specter had better watch out. The day after President Bush&#39;s election triumph, Republican Sen. Arlen Specter - who is expected to be chosen chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee â-ired
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US Sen. Arlen Specter, a moderate Republican engulfed in a political firestorm fanned by abortion foes, wants to make the case to fellow party members that he should
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Questions are raised about whether he violated the law by discussing classified information in Ashcroft's hospital room
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Maybe it was just a coincidence that a federal judge in New York struck down an important provision of the USA Patriot Act on the very day that the House Judiciary Committee was scheduled to debate its future scope and effect.
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A federal judge struck down a key part of the USA Patriot Act on Thursday in a ruling that defended the need for judicial oversight of laws and bashed Congress for passing a law that makes possible "far-reaching invasions of liberty."
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(InfoWorld) - An advocacy group called a U.S. government surveillance authorization bill, approved by a Senate committee Wednesday, one of the worst bills imaginable for people concerned about civil liberties. The National Security Surveillance Act, one of three surveillance bills approved by the Senate Judiciary Committee, would give congressional authorization to a U.S. National Security Agency (NSA) surveillance program that critics have complained is illegal. The bill, sponsored by Judiciary Committee Chairman Arlen Specter, a Pennsylvania Republican, "would radically undermine the privacy of innocent Americans," the Center for Democracy and Technology (CDT) said Thursday. The Specter bill would allow the U.S. government to conduct surveillance programs without court warrants for individual cases as long as the surveillance program is approved ahead of time by the U.S. Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court. This court is sometimes called FISA after the legislation created it. Specter defended his bill as necessary to help the U.S. government fight terrorism. The bill addresses "a national security issue," he said after the committee vote. The Judiciary Committee also approved a second bill, sponsored by Ohio Republican Senator Mike DeWine, allowing the U.S. president to authorize surveillance programs for up to 45 days without a court order. The U.S. attorney general can then review the program and continue it for another 45 days without a court order. The DeWine bill requires that the president report the programs to congressional subcommittees, but it also allows a 15-year prison sentence and a US$1 million fine to anyone who leaks the details of secret surveillance programs. The CDT include the Specter bill on its list of nine legislation efforts that "must be stopped" this year. The bill will give the U.S. government "broader authority to spy on Americans ... without judicial review," the group said. "Cutting the intelligence agencies loose from any checks and balances in this way can actually harm national security, since unfocused fishing expeditions are likely to produce more false leaders than valuable intelligence." Other civil liberties groups, including the Electronic Frontier Foundation and the American Civil Liberties Union, have also raised privacy concerns about the Specter and DeWine bills. With U.S. President George Bush pushing for Congress to authorize the NSA program, the bill is likely to get action on the Senate floor this month, said Leslie Harris, CDT's executive director. "The FISA bill has taken on a political life of its own," she said. Congress may work to pass the FISA bills during the last weeks of the session as lawmakers up for re-election in November try to show their constituents they're tough on terrorism, Harris said. Bush has said he believes the NSA program is legal, but he's called on Congress to authorize the surveillance as a way to head off legal challenges to it. A third bill, which gives the FISA court more funding and resources, also passed out of the Judiciary Committee. Most civil liberties groups have not objected to that bill, sponsored by Specter and Senator Dianne Feinstein, a California Democrat. TheÂ CDT's watch list of "dangerous" tech legislation is online. "We're trying to shame [lawmakers] to better behavior," Harris said. "Even if one of these misguided legislative gambits succeeds, we will all be the worse for it."
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Critics seeking to keep moderate  Pennsylvania Republican Arlen Specter from chairing the Senate  Judiciary Committee were broadening their offensive on Friday  by attacking his record on curbing lawsuits.
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Sen. Arlen Specter gained ground Tuesday toward winning the Senate Judiciary Committee chairmanship, which was thrown into doubt after he said judges who oppose abortion rights would face confirmation problems.
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Islamic charity lawyers contend they were spied on during a period in which the Justice Department refused to bless the government spy program.  Their lawsuit may be the only one that can determine if the domestic spy program is legal.