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Having put off a discussion about extending the USA PATRIOT Act, members of Congress will return from their two week recess next week faced with a series of bills about the post-9-11 law. A short-term 90-day extension of three provisions of the PATRIOT Act was overwhelmingly passed by Congress in February. Now that the extension is expiring, three bills in the House and six in the Senate attempt to tackle the thorny issues surrounding the far-reaching law. The three aspects up for extension include warrantless government surveillance of individuals, access to personal library records, and the so-called “roving wiretap” provision. One bill that has received scant media attention is the Judicious Use of Surveillance Tools or JUSTICE Act which seeks to reform those aspects of the USA PATRIOT Act up for extension, as well as the FISA Amendments Act. The bill, numbered S.B. 1686, was introduced last year by Senator Russ Feingold and 9 other Senators and is being supported by groups like the ACLU and the Bill of Rights Defense Committee.

GUEST: Shahid Buttar, Executive Director Bill of Rights Defense Committee

Find out more about the JUSTICE Act at www.bordc.org.