Posted by Orin Kerr:
House Vote on the Patriot Act:
http://volokh.com/archives/archive_2005_06_12-2005_06_18.shtml#1118934376
A [1]big item in the news today is that the House of Representatives
voted to block the part of the Patriot Act that allows the government
to get library and book store records. I'm having a hard time figuring
out exactly what the House voted on -- as usual, the press coverage is
devoid of the details needed to tell you what actually happened -- but
as best I can tell the actual issue was a bit narrower, and the vote
is likely to be mostly symbolic.
It seems that the bill approved by the House would block federal
funding for any effort to use Section 215 of the Patriot Act to obtain
records from libraries or bookstores relating to actual book purchases
or borrowing. I'm not sure if this would actually stop Section 215
from being used in such contexts, as I don't know enough about the
appropriations process to know how directly the funding question links
to the practice. More broadly, it's my understanding that the bill
would still allow Internet records to be obtained from libraries and
bookstores under Section 215, and would still allow records of
libraries and bookstores to be obtained under traditional criminal
authorities and also under other provisions of FISA beyond Secton 215.
Finally, it helps to keep in mind that this is just a House vote. It
seems unlikely that the Senate will go along with this, and the
President's promised veto if this passes means it is not likely to
make it into legislation (something that I assume the House members
knew when they voted on it). Still, an interesting development. Stay
tuned.
References
1.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/16/politics/16patriot.html?hp&ex=1118980800&en=b1893d773f4955be&ei=5094&partner=homepage
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