Rights and Freedoms

PROTECTING OUR RIGHTS, DEFENDING THE CONSTITUTION

“The freedoms guaranteed by the Constitution are the most fundamental rights that we hold as Americans. Our country was founded on the principle of freedom for all people. The rights of all individuals should be vigorously upheld regardless of race, religion, national origin, gender, age, disability, or sexual orientation.

The Framers who wrote our Constitution and Bill of Rights had recently fought and won the Revolutionary War. They did not live in comfortable and easy times of hypothetical enemies. They wrote a Constitution of limited powers and an explicit Bill of Rights to protect liberty in times of war, as well as in times of peace.

As Chairman of the Constitution Subcommittee, I’ve worked to help ensure that in our pursuit of justice we do not compromise the very freedom and way of life that we seek to protect. Upholding the rights of all citizens has proven to be a struggle throughout our history, but nothing worthwhile is achieved without a struggle.”

- Senator Russ Feingold

USA PATRIOT Act – While Russ supported those portions of the act that brought our anti-terrorism laws in line with new technologies of the 21st century, he was the only senator to vote against the USA PATRIOT Act because it included provisions that went too far and intruded on the rights of law-abiding Americans. While his was the lone vote against the measure in the U.S. Senate, a growing number of his colleagues and millions of Americans in Wisconsin and across the country now agree that the time has come to return to the rule of law and fix many of the troubling provisions that were passed in haste in 2001. We must give law enforcement the tools to protect us from future terrorist attacks, but we can and should do so without jeopardizing our individual rights guaranteed by the Constitution – the very principles that make us Americans.

Among the fixes to the PATRIOT Act that Russ has proposed to rein in the overreaching power of the federal government are:

• Protecting Personal Records: Currently, the federal government can walk into medical offices, libraries, book stores, etc., and gain access to the records of anyone without proper oversight or judicial review. Russ’s bill, the Library, Bookstore, and Personal Records Privacy Act, would force the federal government to at the very least specify why it believes the person it is looking into is a suspected terrorist or spy. Russ’s legislation would still allow the government to follow up on legitimate leads while also protecting the privacy of law-abiding Americans.
• Revising the “Sneak and Peek” Provisions: Under the PATRIOT Act, the federal government has the authority to execute secret search warrants whereby the person under investigation may not know a search warrant was executed for weeks or months. Russ’s bill, the Reasonable Notice and Search Act, still allows for delayed notification of executed warrants, but it requires notification within a reasonable 7-day period, with extensions in certain limited circumstances. It also requires that the Attorney General submit to Congress a report every six months containing all requests for delayed notice warrants so that adequate oversight of the program can be conducted.
• Stopping Warrantless Surveillance of Personal Computers: Law enforcement officials should be allowed to search the computer records and hard drives of anyone suspected of terrorist activity, but under the PATRIOT Act, the federal government is allowed to search the computers of owners seeking government assistance in combating hackers - all without a court order. Russ’s bill, the Computer Trespass Clarification Act, would ensure that this provision of the PATRIOT Act is revised.

Protecting Privacy – Russ has been recognized as a leading defender of the Constitution for his efforts to defend the rights and freedoms of law-abiding Americans. The Bush Administration has done much damage to these rights in recent years and Senator Feingold has called on President Obama to help return our country to the rule of law. Russ has committed to work with his colleagues and the Obama Administration to fix the damage done by the Bush Administration.

He’s the principal author of the National Security Letters (NSL) Reform Act. Currently, the federal government can effectively issue subpoenas with absolutely zero judicial oversight – giving the government tremendous access to the electronic communications records of individuals who may be accused of no wrongdoing.

Russ raised concerns early about the potential abuse of NSLs and according to the Justice Department’s own Inspector General report in 2008, NSLs were indeed abused by the FBI on numerous occasions. The misuse of this authority can be directly attributed to the overreaching powers in the USA PATRIOT Act. Russ’s bipartisan legislation will stop these abuses from happening in the future. The NSL Reform Act is supported by: Bob Barr, former Republican member of Congress; David Keene, Chairman of the American Conservative Union and Co-Chair of the Constitution Project's Liberty & Security Initiative; Grover Norquist, President of Americans for Tax Reform; the American Booksellers Foundation for Free Expression; the American Civil Liberties Union; the American Conservative Defense Alliance; the American Library Association; the American Policy Center; the Association of American Publishers; the Association of Research Libraries; the Bill of Rights Defense Committee; the Center for American Progress Action Fund; the Center for Democracy and Technology; the Center for National Security Studies; Citizen Outreach; Downsize DC; the Electronic Frontier Foundation; the League of Women Voters of the United States; the Liberty Coalition; Patriots to Restore Checks and Balances; the PEN American Center; the Republican Liberty Caucus; the Rutherford Institute; and the U.S. Bill of Rights Foundation

Russ has also pushed legislation called the OLC Reporting Act which would require the attorney general to report to Congress when the Department of Justice issues a legal opinion concluding that the executive branch is not bound by a particular law. During the Bush Administration, the Justice Department effectively issued secret laws – opinions stating that the president and his administration didn’t have to follow the law - and the public and Congress did not have to be told when the Department came to that conclusion. These overreaching claims by the Bush Administration have been described in court opinions as “repugnant” and “an abomination” and Russ’s bill would, at the very least, require Congress to be notified when the executive branch claims it is above the current law.

Russ has also introduced legislation that reins in the Bush Administration’s controversial procedure know as data mining. Currently, the federal government is capable of maintaining records on each and every American that contain everything from a person’s credit card information, to travel records, to medical and communications records, to traffic violations and other personal information without any oversight. Russ’s Data Mining Reporting Act would require federal agencies to report to Congress on the existence of current data-mining programs, as well as similar programs that are currently under development.

Russ has also taken the lead in ending the Bush Administration’s warrantless, wiretapping program. Under this program the Bush Administration claimed the authority to wiretap ordinary Americans, on American soil, all without a court order.

Ending Racial Profiling - Russ has taken the lead in ending the abusive practice of racial profiling. Along with Michigan Representative John Conyers, Russ has introduced legislation that would make racial profiling unlawful and create outlets for individuals to report misconduct by individual police officers. While most law enforcement officials do not engage in this practice, those who do should be held accountable.

Abolishing the Death Penalty - The death penalty at the federal and state levels is flawed and should be abolished. Russ is the leading opponent of the death penalty in the Senate.

Over one thousand people have been executed in the era of the modern death penalty, while 12% of those sentenced to death have been exonerated. Defendants’ likelihood of being sentenced to death depends heavily on whether they are rich or poor, and what race their victims were. And years of study have shown that the death penalty does little to deter crime.

The facts prove that innocent people end up on death row, and we cannot tolerate errors when the government is imposing such a final penalty. Russ has spoken out repeatedly in opposition to the death penalty as a barbaric practice, and has introduced legislation that would abolish the death penalty at the federal level. The current system risks executing the innocent, and we can punish serious offenders by sentencing them to life without parole.

Fighting "Redlining" - Russ authored legislation that prevents insurance companies from "redlining" certain communities. Redlining is a form of institutional racism that prevents people from realizing the American dream of owning their own home by restricting access to homeowner's insurance in targeted areas. As a Wisconsin State Senator, Senator Feingold authored a bill to establish a Wisconsin Community Reinvestment Act to ensure that financial institutions provide services to city residents and business in their surrounding area.

Ending Discrimination - Russ successfully fought efforts to strip the government of its authority to investigate illegal property insurance discrimination. And he has championed efforts to end discrimination based on race, ethnicity, gender, or sexual orientation.

Supporting Minority Businesses - Russ has always fought to give minorities a fair chance, including in the 2005 highway funding bill, where he supported affirmative action policies to expand the applicant pool, encourage participation by businesses owned by minorities, and recruit qualified minorities into the applicant pool, encourage contractors to request bids from businesses owned by minorities and include qualified minorities in an applicant pool for transportation contracts.

Native Americans - While Russ is committed to achieving a balanced budget, he believes it is possible to do so without undermining important programs that provide essential services. For this reason he has opposed efforts to reduce funding for Native American programs. We have a responsibility to meet the federal government's legal trust obligation to the tribes, and Russ recognizes how important these funds are to Wisconsin.

Marriage Equality - America was founded on the principle of freedom for all people. Russ has opposed and will continue to fight efforts to write discrimination into the Constitution by passing an amendment banning same-sex marriage. All Americans should stand up and say no to the federal marriage amendment, no to discrimination targeted at many of our citizens, and no to these sorts of narrow-minded attempts to score political points. The last thing we should do is play politics with the Constitution, or with the lives of gay and lesbian Americans.

Supporting the Second Amendment – The Second Amendment, which protects the right to keep and bear arms, has meaning today and must be respected. Russ has been a consistent, strong supporter of the Second Amendment throughout his career. He opposed renewal of the assault weapons ban and supported the recent Supreme Court decision overturning the Washington, D.C. law prohibiting the sale or possession of handguns and semiautomatic weapons and limiting the possession of certain types of gun ammunition. Gun ownership is an important part of our history here in Wisconsin, and law-abiding individuals should be able to own firearms as set forth in our Constitution.

Feingold has supported reasonable measures that do not infringe on the rights of law-abiding citizens to own and use guns such as:

• The Brady Bill, requiring background checks of gun purchasers,
• Closing the gun show loophole that unacceptably increases the danger that a gun will fall into the hands of a criminal,
• Child safety locks and other measures to make firearms less dangerous to gun owners and their families, and
• Requiring the gun industry, like other industries, to maintain its duty of reasonable care to its customers.

Voting Rights – Russ supported the Equal Protection of Voting Rights Act that established federal voting standards and provided resources to states to help ensure that all Americans, no matter where they live, have fair and equal access to polling places. He will continue to monitor the law’s implementation to try to ensure that no voter is disenfranchised. He also supports the "No Taxation Without Representation Act” which would finally give the residents of the District of Columbia full voting representation in the House of Representatives. Feingold also supports allowing ex-felons who have paid their debt to society the opportunity to reclaim their right to vote.

Recognition of Feingold’s Record – Russ has been recognized by groups such as the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights, Friends of Libraries, the American Library Association, the Arab-American Discrimination Committee, and the Backbone Campaign for his support of civil rights and for his willingness to stand up and fight for our freedoms. He has received stellar ratings from the NAACP for his voting record ever since he was first elected in 1992. And the National Hispanic Leadership Agenda has given Senator Feingold a perfect 100% rating for his commitment to racial equality.

See Also: Protecting Workers, Defending Reproductive Freedoms