The last 45-day FISA 702 extension passed the Senate on the presumption the Trump admin would honor a bipartisan request to declassify this FISA Court opinion on major compliance failures by May 15. Unsurprisingly, the Trump admin ignored it instead.

“On the one hand, the use of these tools to conduct queries under the radar is itself a massive compliance violation that is important for Congress to see and understand, but it also means that there may be more granular compliance violations in the form of abuses of U.S. person queries that we just don’t know about.”

FISA 702 just passed the House. This bill lets the government search Americans’ private communications without a warrant—in direct violation of the Fourth Amendment. But don’t blame the GOP alone. Forty-two Democrats betrayed the American people to help Mike Johnson pass it.

The House will vote today on a three-year FISA 702 extension. Any Republican telling you they’re voting yes on FISA in exchange for a CBDC ban is a liar or a fool. The Senate will strip the CBDC ban. They know this or should know it. And no one should support FISA regardless!

The House Rules Committee voted to block a full House vote on a warrant requirement to search Americans' data under FISA 702! Call your rep at (202) 224-3121 and tell them to: Demand a VOTE on a real warrant requirement for searches of Americans’ communications. Vote NO on any FISA 702 bill without one – and NO on any procedural resolution to bring such a bill to the floor.

Congress is again trying to reauthorize FISA Section 702, and a vote could come as soon as Tuesday, April 28. This warrantless surveillance program is a direct assault on the right of the people to be free from unreasonable searches, as secured by the Fourth Amendment. Although Section 702 purports to “target” foreigners overseas, the federal government uses this authority to collect huge amounts of Americans’ personal communications and then search that vast trove of data for our phone calls, emails, and text messages – all without a warrant. Earlier this month, House leadership tried to push through a long-term extension. First, a five-year plan. Then, an 18-month “clean” extension. Neither included any meaningful changes to protect Americans’ rights. And, thankfully, both failed. Now Speaker Mike Johnson is back at it with a new bill to reauthorize FISA 702 for three years. And what is Johnson giving privacy advocates in exchange for three more years? More superficial oversight. Some internal reviews. A report. Different sign-offs inside the same agencies already green-lighting massive rights violations. But still no warrant requirement as the Constitution demands. Intelligence agencies would continue to search Americans’ communications without going to a judge to get a warrant. We’ve seen this game before: Take an unconstitutional program with a long record of abuse, make some cosmetic changes, and then tell everyone it’s been fixed. Fortunately, most members of Congress didn’t fall for that game earlier this month, and we can’t let them fall for it now. During the last reauthorization fight in 2024, Speaker Johnson allowed a vote on an amendment to require a warrant before searching Americans’ communications. That amendment failed in the House by just one vote. That close vote is probably why the speaker has so far refused to allow any amendments this time around. He knows that the public supports an amendment to FISA 702 to add a warrant requirement consistent with the Constitution – and that the votes likely aren’t on his side anymore. So many of you reached out to your representatives and helped stop Speaker Johnson’s last attempt to ram this unlawful spying program through the House. Please do so again today. If you think the government should get a warrant before searching Americans’ private communications, as the Fourth Amendment requires, now is the time to say so. Call your representative at (202) 224-3121 and tell them to: Demand a VOTE on a real warrant requirement for searches of Americans’ communications. Vote NO on any FISA 702 bill without one – and NO on any procedural resolution to bring such a bill to the floor. The votes are there to stop this assault on the Constitution and our rights – but only if members of Congress know people are paying attention. Every call – and every message – matters. Thanks for everything you do. – @justinamash

1/ The spectacular failure to push through an extension of FISA Section 702 last week led to @SpeakerJohnson advancing a proposal that is the policy equivalent of fool's gold and does nothing to protect Americans.

In today's @just_security, my colleague Hannah James & I analyze Speaker Johnson's "new" proposal to reauthorize Section 702. It's the same as the one the House just rejected, and it places no new restrictions on backdoor searches.

A US surveillance program that lets the FBI view Americans' communications without a warrant is up for renewal. A new bill aims to address mounting lawmaker concerns—with smoke and mirrors.

This is not a reform bill and it’s not a compromise. It’s a straight reauthorization with eight pages of words that serve no serious purpose other than to try to convince members that it’s NOT a straight reauthorization. 17/18

After his spectacular failure to push through a reauthorization of Section 702 in the dead of night last Thursday, Speaker Johnson is trying again—with a new proposal that’s almost identical to the one that failed last week. 1/18

It’s pretty simple: If your member of Congress votes to extend FISA 702 without a warrant requirement, then vote that person out. That member of Congress doesn’t take their oath to uphold the Constitution seriously, doesn’t care about you, and is unfit to serve.

House leadership just tried to rush through a major expansion of unconstitutional government surveillance. FISA Section 702 is the authority that lets the government collect massive amounts of communications – and then search that data for Americans’ emails, calls, and text messages without a warrant. It was set to expire on April 20, and for weeks, leadership had been pushing for a “clean” extension of this program – keeping it in place for 18 more months with no reforms. At the same time, they were negotiating with members of Congress who were demanding a warrant requirement and other protections for Americans. Then late Thursday night, leadership suddenly changed course. Just before 11 p.m., House leadership dropped new legislation to reauthorize FISA 702 for five years. They claimed it included a warrant requirement, but that wasn’t true: Their phony “warrant requirement” would have done nothing to stop unconstitutional warrantless searches of Americans’ communications. Then, without giving members time to read or understand the new language, leadership tried to rush it through in the middle of the night – teeing up a vote around 1 a.m. to swap it in and push it toward passage before the public could catch on. Thankfully, the vote failed. They then tried to fall back to their “clean” 18-month extension. That failed, too. But both votes were close – close enough that a small shift could have changed the outcome. In votes like that, outside pressure matters. Over the past few days, so many of you spoke up – calling your representatives and making clear that warrantless surveillance of Americans is unlawful and unacceptable. Thank you. That kind of pressure makes all the difference. But the fight isn’t over. After those votes failed, Congress passed a short-term extension to buy more time to negotiate, pushing the program through April 30. That gives leadership another chance to try again – and a short window to keep up the momentum. What happened in the wee hours was a shameful attempt to mislead the public with fake reform and trade it for five more years of surveillance powers, rushed through at a time when most people weren’t paying attention. It didn’t succeed – but it came close, and it’s a reminder that this kind of attention matters. They’re going to try again, and keeping engaged is how we give ourselves – and allies in Congress – the best chance to force real reforms. Thanks to all of you at home. We’ll keep you informed as this fight continues.