Protect America Act. The Protect America Act (S. 1927) would amend the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) to allow warrantless electronic surveillance (eavesdropping) of targets outside the United States regardless of whether they are communicating with someone within the United States. This surveillance had been conducted illegally by the CIA. Under this legislation, communications companies would be required to comply with surveillance requests and would be provided lawsuit protections.
The Senate passed S. 1927 on August 3, 2007, by a vote of 60-28 (Roll Call 309). We have assigned pluses to the nays because warrantless surveillance of American citizens is a violation of the Fourth Amendment’s prohibition “against unreasonable searches and seizures.”
