The Senate Judiciary Committee on Thursday morning quickly voted to advance to the Senate floor a bill proposed by its Chairman, Senator Patrick Leahy (D-VT), that would narrow the types of surveillance and requests for information that law enforcement could conduct over user’s electronic communications, and would require warrants for accessing all types — not just communications six months or older as is the current rule, as Leahy’s official Twitter account announced. Now the bill must be voted on by the full Senate to pass, and combined with a House version and be signed by the president before becoming law. There’s no timetable been set for those requirements, yet, and POLITICO reported that it is unlikely to pass Congress.
This is a companion discussion topic for the original entry at https://talkingpointsmemo.com/?p=163369