Unlikely alliances formed in N.C. delegation over PATRIOT Act extension vote

It’s not too often that North Carolina U.S. Reps. Brad Miller (D) and Virginia Foxx (R) end up voting together on controversial legislation. The same can be said of Democrat Mel Watt and Republican Walter Jones. But Tuesday’s vote to renew parts of the PATRIOT Act — in a surprise outcome, the Republican-led House failed to pass the extensions — brought these unlikely partners together.

H.R.514 was defeated yesterday with 277 members of Congress voting for the bill and 148 against. Because Republicans chose a process known as “expedited procedure,” that does not allow amendments to be introduced and limits debate of the bill to 40 minutes, a two-thirds majority was needed to pass the bill.

North Carolina Democrats Heath Shuler, Larry Kissell, Mike McIntyre and Brad Miller voted for the extension of certain provisions in the post-9/11 surveillance law along with Republican members Howard Coble, Renee Ellmers, Virginia Foxx, Patrick McHenry and Sue Myrick.

Republican Walter Jones joined Democrats David Price and Mel Watt in voting against the bill. G.K. Butterfield did not vote.

Republicans are expected to re-introduce the bill in the House under normal rules in the next few days, and seem to have the numbers to easily pass the bill with a majority vote. The Obama administration also supports extending the provisions through December 2013.

The American Civil Liberties Union, a backer of expiration, sums up the provisions of the bill that are set to expire later this month:

• Section 215 of the Patriot Act authorizes the government to obtain “any tangible thing” relevant to a terrorism investigation, even if there is no showing that the “thing” pertains to suspected terrorists or terrorist activities. This provision is contrary to traditional notions of search and seizure, which require the government to show reasonable suspicion or probable cause before undertaking an investigation that infringes upon a person’s privacy. Congress must ensure that things collected with this power have a meaningful nexus to suspected terrorist activity or it should be allowed to expire.
• Section 206 of the Patriot Act, also known as “roving John Doe wiretap” provision, permits the government to obtain intelligence surveillance orders that identify neither the person nor the facility to be tapped. This provision is contrary to traditional notions of search and seizure, which require government to state with particularity what it seeks to search or seize. Section 206 should be amended to mirror similar and longstanding criminal laws that permit roving wiretaps, but require the naming of a specific target. Otherwise, it should expire.
• Section 6001 of the Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act of 2004, or the so-called “Lone Wolf” provision, permits secret intelligence surveillance of non-US persons who are not affiliated with a foreign organization. Such an authorization, granted only in secret courts is subject to abuse and threatens our longtime understandings of the limits of the government’s investigatory powers within the borders of the United States. This provision has never been used and should be allowed to expire outright.

Update, 4:25 p.m. EST: The House will vote on extension again next week. The vote will be under a closed rule, which means no amendments are allowed, and will require a simple majority to pass.