FISA Amendments Act of 2008 Passes, Granting Telecom Immunity

Congress passed the FISA Amendments Act of 2008, fundamentally expanding the president’s warrantless surveillance authority while granting retroactive immunity to telecommunications companies that participated in the NSA’s illegal domestic wiretapping program since 2001. The Senate voted 69-28 on July 9, following the House’s 293-129 vote on June 20, to approve the legislation despite fierce opposition from civil liberties advocates. The act created Section 702, allowing warrantless surveillance of foreign targets whose communications may route through U.S. infrastructure, effectively codifying aspects of the previously illegal STELLARWIND program. Most controversially, the law provided blanket immunity to telecom companies like AT&T, Verizon, and others facing lawsuits for their cooperation with the NSA’s warrantless surveillance, estimated to have affected millions of Americans. The legislation emerged after the FISA court rejected the Bush administration’s attempts to expand surveillance authority in April 2007, forcing the administration to seek congressional approval. Critics argued Congress was retroactively legitimizing constitutional violations and setting a dangerous precedent for executive power. The act also increased the time allowed for warrantless surveillance and added provisions for emergency eavesdropping without court approval.