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Doing so "represented the first time the government has acknowledged US spy activities violated the constitution since the passage of a 2008 law that overhauled surveillance laws following the uproar over the NSA's warrantless wiretapping program in the (Bush) administration."
Obama officials provided no details about Fourth Amendment violations, when they occurred, or if anyone at NSA was held accountable.
The agency's spokesman, Michael Birminghan, said its director is committed to "transparency, compliance, and oversight."
He lied. Privacy experts say what's known is troubling. ACLU legal director, Jameel Jaffer said:
"If the government is engaged in surveillance that violated the Fourth Amendment, that is something that ought to be disturbing to not just legislators, but to the American public more generally."
Ahead of the vote, Wyden urged restraint, caution, and concern for constitutional protections.
"This is the last opportunity for the next five years for the Congress to exercise a modest measure of real oversight over this intelligence surveillance law," he stressed."It is not real oversight when the United States Congress cannot get a yes or no answer to the question of whether an estimate currently exists as to whether law abiding Americans have had their phone calls and emails swept up under the FISA law."
Senator Rand Paul 's (R-KY) Fourth Amendment Protection Act would have protected personal emails from warrantless searches and seizures.
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