[ACLU-NM] Udall "Freedom to Read Protection Act" Amendment Passes

[Kimberly Lavender]

NEWS RELEASE

For Immediate Release: June 15, 2005   

 

HOUSE REIGNS IN PATRIOT ACT

 

Udall "Freedom to Read Protection Act" Amendment Passes

 

WASHINGTON - U.S. Representative Tom Udall, D-N.M., Wednesday claimed
victory as his amendment to prohibit the FBI from using a USA Patriot
Act Section 215 order to access library circulation records, library
patron lists, book sales records, or book customer lists was passed.

 Udall offered his "Freedom to Read Protection Act" amendment to the FY
2006 Science, State, Justice, and Commerce Appropriations bill.  The
amendment was passed on a vote of 238-187

  "This common sense amendment restores the privacy and First Amendment
rights of library and bookstore patrons which were in place before the
USA Patriot Act," Udall said. "Passage of this amendment shows the deep
concern that members of both parties have about the Patriot Act. I will
continue to see that this provision is maintained when Congress
considers reauthorization of the Patriot Act later this year."

 Along with 15 other provisions of the PATRIOT Act, Section 215 expires
at the end of this year. In its current form, 215 allows the FBI to
conduct secret searches of business records-including those of libraries
and bookstores-without proving probable cause. In order to obtain
subpoenas, the agency has only to tell the U.S. Foreign Intelligence
Surveillance Court that the records are necessary for an investigation
related to terrorism.

 The amendment was modeled on the Freedom to Read Protection Act (H.R.
1157), which has garnered 126 bi-partisan cosponsors and continues to
receive support from a national citizen movement urging its passage.
State and local governments, over 40 nationwide newspapers, and national
organizations across America have spoken out against the overreaching
provisions in the Patriot Act.  To date, over 140 national and regional
book, library, publishing industry, civil liberty and privacy rights
organizations have endorsed the legislation.  In addition, seven state
legislatures and 379 towns and cities from across the political
spectrum, representing more than 61 million people, have passed
resolutions expressing their concerns with the anti-privacy and
anti-liberty portions of the Patriot Act.

 Udall supported a similar amendment last year, which initially won,
with 219 members of the House voting in support of it. Republican House
leaders, however, left the vote open for an extra 20 minutes and twisted
the arms of several members into changing their votes, causing it to
lose with a 210-210 tie.

 Passage of the amendment comes close on the heels of a closed-door
session of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence on June 7, which
approved legislation reauthorizing and expanding the PATRIOT Act. The
expanded bill would make it even easier for the FBI to obtain subpoenas
for records, and grants law enforcement officers "administrative
subpoenas," which essentially allows the bureau to write and approve its
own orders.

 A former federal prosecutor and New Mexico Attorney General, Udall was
the only member of the New Mexico Congressional delegation to vote
against the USA Patriot Act in 2001. 

 

-END-

            

 
Kimberly Lavender
Communications Manager
ACLU of New Mexico
PO Box 80915
Albuquerque, NM 87198
 
go to our website at www.aclu-nm.org <http://www.aclu-nm.org/> 
 
 
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