House, Senate Pass Administration Surveillance Bill

By now you’ve probably heard that the House and Senate passed bills that gutted FISA. The bills, supported unanimously by Republicans* and a handful of Democrats in both houses, categorically exclude from FISA court oversight all surveillance “directed at a person reasonably believed to be located outside of the United States.” As Marty Lederman explains:

For surveillance to come within this exemption, there is no requirement that it be conducted outside the U.S.; no requirement that the person at whom it is “directed” be an agent of a foreign power or in any way connected to terrorism or other wrongdoing; and no requirement that the surveillance does not also encompass communications of U.S. persons. Indeed, if read literally, it would exclude from FISA any surveillance that is in some sense “directed” both at persons overseas and at persons in the U.S.

The key term, obviously, is “directed at.” The bill includes no definition of it.

The bill’s one saving grace is that it will expire after six months, though House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has already signaled that she won’t wait near that long, wanting instead to bring up legislation “as soon as possible,” i.e. early September, after the August recess.

We’ll also have more on this tomorrow.

*Update/Correction: Actually two Republicans in the House voted against: Reps. Walter Jones (R-NC) and Tim Johnson (R-IL). As commenters below have helpfully provided, here’s the House roll call and here’s the Senate.