Lisa Graves Quotations

When lawmakers seek to rewrite our Fourth Amendment rights, they should at least have the gumption to do so in public. Americans have a reasonable expectation that their federal government will not gather records about their health, their wealth and the transactions of their daily life without probable cause of a crime and without a court order.

When presented with an honest representation, the American voter has serious concerns about the government's actions. Congress must listen and take steps to protect our Constitutional freedoms. The American people recognize that the rule of law must be followed by all - especially the president.

It's akin to the Soviet Politburo erasing people from photographs. The only reason we know most of these things are happening is that civil servants have observed these violations of the law and have bravely blown the whistle and told the press.

It provides more protections and important clarifications than the other bills that are being considered. But all the bills fall short of what is necessary to bring the Patriot Act back in line with the Constitution.

Although the House Judiciary Committee's base bill does not expand the Patriot Act in the unwise and unwarranted way the Senate Intelligence Committee proposed, it can and must be modified to ensure that Patriot powers are focused on terrorists and not ordinary Americans,

When a law has been broken, the proper response should be a full and independent investigation, not a cover-up. Congress must reject attempts to legitimize this illegal program, and instead insist that the truth be brought to light. No one, not even the president, should be above the law. The law should not be changed to protect politicians by making unlawful acts legal.

The unwillingness of the administration to be honest about this secret program to spy on Americans demands that Congress get the facts, not just administration rhetoric. The truth can be determined without compromising national security. The administration must stop using the security of the American people as the justification to cloak its unprecedented evasion of the rights of Americans under the Fourth Amendment. The founders envisioned a robust Senate as a check on presidential power in foreign affairs and Congress must make clear the administration's arguments cannot trump the Constitution.

The Patriot Act was bad in 2001, and despite bipartisan calls for reform, it's still bad in 2005.

The Patriot Act debate is whether FISA adequately protects civil liberties. The point of FISA was to interpose a judge between the president and the citizen to make sure they wouldn't gather data on someone unilaterally.

The Patriot Act debate has come a long way, but there is still more that needs to be done to protect the rights of ordinary Americans. It is clear that there is building skepticism about the administration's approach to national security and civil liberties, and the ACLU and its bipartisan allies will continue to speak out in defense of all Americans' fundamental civil liberties and constitutional rights.