Patriot-Act

Obama Signs USA FREEDOM Act, Ending NSA Bulk Metadata Collection

| Importance: 9/10

President Barack Obama signed the USA FREEDOM Act into law on June 2, 2015, representing the most significant reform of U.S. surveillance programs since the 1970s and a direct response to Edward Snowden’s revelations about NSA mass surveillance. The Act prohibited bulk collection of all …

Barack Obama Mitch McConnell Ron Wyden Rand Paul NSA usa-freedom-act nsa-surveillance legislative-reform patriot-act edward-snowden +1 more
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Second Circuit Rules NSA Bulk Phone Metadata Collection Illegal Under Patriot Act

| Importance: 9/10

A three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit unanimously ruled in ACLU v. Clapper that the National Security Agency’s bulk collection of telephone metadata was not authorized by Section 215 of the USA PATRIOT Act, effectively declaring the surveillance program …

Second Circuit Court of Appeals Gerard Lynch NSA ACLU nsa-surveillance judicial-oversight patriot-act section-215 privacy-rights +1 more
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Bush Signs PATRIOT Act After 45-Day Rush with Minimal Debate

| Importance: 9/10

President Bush signed the USA PATRIOT Act just 45 days after 9/11, following an unprecedented rushed legislative process that bypassed normal democratic deliberation. The 342-page bill was introduced October 23, passed the House 357-66 on October 24, and the Senate 98-1 on October 25, with only …

George W. Bush Russ Feingold Tom Daschle Jim Sensenbrenner Viet Dinh patriot-act surveillance civil-liberties rushed-legislation feingold
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