May, 28 2020, 12:00am EDT
House of Representatives Delays Vote on USA Freedom Reauthorization Act as Activists Demand Better and Beat Back Attack on Civil Liberties
On Wednesday, the leadership of the House of Representatives put off a final vote on the USA Freedom Reauthorization Act, moving to the brink of a vote on the legislation before abandoning plans when it became clear they may not have the numbers needed to pass the bill.
After a series of late developments over Memorial Day weekend and earlier this week, the legislation that had moved through all of the procedural steps to reach the floor this evening did not include in any form a bipartisan amendment offered by Reps. Zoe Lofgren (D-California) and Warren Davidson (R-Ohio).
WASHINGTON
On Wednesday, the leadership of the House of Representatives put off a final vote on the USA Freedom Reauthorization Act, moving to the brink of a vote on the legislation before abandoning plans when it became clear they may not have the numbers needed to pass the bill.
After a series of late developments over Memorial Day weekend and earlier this week, the legislation that had moved through all of the procedural steps to reach the floor this evening did not include in any form a bipartisan amendment offered by Reps. Zoe Lofgren (D-California) and Warren Davidson (R-Ohio).
Initial reports indicated the amended bill would prohibit the use of Section 215 of the Patriot Act for the warrantless surveillance of search and browser histories of people in the United States, tracking the language of a bipartisan amendment offered in the Senate by Sens. Ron Wyden (D-Oregon) and Steve Daines (R-Montana).
Free Press Action withdrew its initial support for the Lofgren-Davidson amendment, and for the passage of the underlying legislation, after it was confirmed on Wednesday that the amendment's language had been weakened by House Intelligence Committee Chair Adam Schiff (D-California). The compromised language failed to secure fundamental privacy protections for all people, especially immigrants. In the end, that weakened amendment was not attached to the final bill.
The final bill came under withering, last-minute criticism from the left and the right alike, as Congressional Progressive Caucus members and civil-liberties advocacy groups signaled their continued opposition to a version of the USA Freedom Reauthorization Act not improved significantly enough when compared to the bill that 75 Democrats and 60 Republicans voted against in March.
Free Press Action Government Relations Director Sandra Fulton made the following statement:
"While this isn't the end of the fight, the delay of the vote is a winning moment for civil-liberties advocates across the political spectrum, whose fierce opposition to tonight's failed version of the USA Freedom Reauthorization Act led to this latest twist.
"Before giving up on the vote this evening, Democratic House leadership seemed ready to abandon key Fourth Amendment protections for all people in the United States. That would have been a huge disappointment and a dangerous precedent. These protections are critical safeguards against a Trump administration known to use its powers to target marginalized communities and others the president regards as enemies.
"That's why the decision to delay the vote on passage tonight is great news, even if this is just a temporary reprieve and even though the debate will continue. When it does, it will start on very different terms. Democratic leadership needlessly chose to propose opening a massive loophole in the law with the weakened and then discarded version of the Lofgren-Davidson amendment. Accepting that watered-down amendment would have jeopardized the privacy rights of everyone.
"But thanks to pressure from civil-liberties groups, civil-rights champions, Congressional Progressive Caucus members in the Democratic Party, and Republican members--who had become more and more concerned about unchecked and unwarranted spying on people in the United States--this bill is off the table for now.
"While Free Press Action has fought these sweeping surveillance powers under Democratic and Republican administrations alike, they are particularly concerning in the era of Donald Trump and Bill Barr, who have proven to be a significant threat to communities of color, activists and other vulnerable people. The House's last-minute detour keeps alive the chance to take advantage of this moment, and to adopt strong surveillance law reforms that protect the privacy of all people."
Free Press was created to give people a voice in the crucial decisions that shape our media. We believe that positive social change, racial justice and meaningful engagement in public life require equitable access to technology, diverse and independent ownership of media platforms, and journalism that holds leaders accountable and tells people what's actually happening in their communities.
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Police use of "catch-and-release" tactics is particularly worrying for press freedom advocates, according to the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker.
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Arrests and detainments of journalists in the United States surged in 2024 compared to the year prior, according to the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker, a project of the Freedom of the Press Foundation.
The tracker reports that journalists were arrested or detained by police at least 48 times this year—eclipsing the number of arrests that took place in the previous two years combined, and constituting the third highest number of yearly arrests and detentions since the project began cataloging press freedom violations in 2017. 2020, however, still stands as far and away the year with the most arrests and detentions.
The 48 arrests and detentions this year is also part of a larger list of "press freedom incidents" that the tracker documents, including things like equipment damage, equipment seizure, and assault.
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The report also recounts the story of Roni Jacobson, a freelance reporter whose experience on the last day of 2023 was a harbinger of press freedom incidents to come in 2024. Jacobson was on assignment to cover a pro-Palestinian demonstration for the New York Daily News on December 31, 2023 when she was told to leave by police because she didn't have city-issued press credentials with her. She recounted that she accidentally bumped into an officer and was arrested. She was held overnight at a precinct and then released after the charges against her, which included disorderly conduct, were dropped.
Even five arrests that the tracker deems "election-related" took place at protests that were "at least partially if not entirely focused on the Israel-Gaza war." Three of those election-related arrests took place at protests happening around the Democratic National Convention in August.
One police force in particular bears responsibility for this year's crackdown: Nearly 50% of the arrests of journalists this year were at the hands of the New York Police Department (NYPD). Many of those taken into custody had their charges dropped quickly, but the tracker notes that the NYPD's use of "catch-and-release" tactics was particularly worrying to press freedom advocates.
Two photojournalists, Josh Pacheco and Olga Federova, were detained four times this year in both New York City and Chicago while photographing protests. They were both "assaulted and arrested and [had] their equipment damaged" while documenting police clearing a student encampment at Manhattan's Fashion Institute of Technology; however, they were released the next day and told their arrests had been voided.
"While [we are] glad that some common sense prevailed by the NYPD not charging these two photographers with any crime, we are very concerned that they are perfecting 'catch-and-release' to an art form,” Mickey Osterreicher, general counsel for the National Press Photographers Association, told the tracker.
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In a Truth Social post, Trump wrote that as director of VOA, Lake would "ensure that the American values of Freedom and Liberty are broadcast around the World FAIRLY and ACCURATELY, unlike the lies spread by the Fake News Media."
Lake, a former television news anchor in Arizona who has echoed Trump's insidious attacks on journalists, wrote in response to the president-elect's announcement that she was "honored" to be asked to lead VOA, which she characterized as "a vital international media outlet dedicated to advancing the interests of the United States by engaging directly with people across the globe and promoting democracy and truth." VOA, which is supposed to have editorial independence, has long faced criticism for its coverage and treatment of employees.
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"Under my leadership, the VOA will excel in its mission: chronicling America's achievements worldwide," Lake, an outspoken Trump loyalist, wrote Wednesday.
Hours after Trump's announcement that she's his pick to lead VOA, Lake applaudedTIME magazine for naming Trump its "Person of the Year" and gushed that he "should have been the Person of the Year every year for the last decade."
Journalists and watchdogs expressed a mixture of alarm and mockery in response to Trump's attempt to elevate Lake to VOA director.
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Zeteo's Mehdi Hasan added that "authoritarians love to control and instrumentalize media organizations, especially state-funded ones."
"Good luck to the VOA," he wrote.
VOA is the largest federally funded international broadcaster and is overseen by the U.S. Agency for Global Media.
It is not clear whether Trump will be able to easily install Lake as VOA director. The Washington Post noted that "under rules passed in 2020, the VOA director is appointed by a majority vote of a seven-member advisory board."
"Six members of the board are named by the president and require Senate consent, and the seventh member is the secretary of state," the Post explained.
During his first term in the White House, Trump's pick to lead the U.S. Agency for Global Media worked aggressively to influence VOA coverage.
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The Biden Justice Department paused federal executions in 2021, but President-elect Donald Trump pledged on the campaign trail to expand the use of the death penalty and is expected to allow the executions of the 40 men on death row to take place if they're still there when he takes office next month.
In a statement on Thursday, Biden said that he has "the great privilege of extending mercy to people who have demonstrated remorse and rehabilitation, restoring opportunity for Americans to participate in daily life and contribute to their communities, and taking steps to remove sentencing disparities for non-violent offenders, especially those convicted of drug offenses."
"That is why, today, I am pardoning 39 people who have shown successful rehabilitation and have shown commitment to making their communities stronger and safer," the president said. "I am also commuting the sentences of nearly 1,500 people who are serving long prison sentences—many of whom would receive lower sentences if charged under today’s laws, policies, and practices. These commutation recipients, who were placed on home confinement during the Covid pandemic, have successfully reintegrated into their families and communities and have shown that they deserve a second chance."
Biden, who campaigned on ending the death penalty at the federal level, vowed to "take more steps in the weeks ahead" as his administration reviews clemency petitions, leaving open the possibility of commutations for death row prisoners.
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