Washington, D.C. – U.S. Senator Russ Feingold successfully added an amendment to the PATRIOT Act reauthorization bill considered by the Senate Judiciary Committee today to reform invasive “sneak and peek” searches.  The “sneak and peek” provision of the PATRIOT Act allows the government in run-of-the-mill criminal cases to enter into someone’s home and perform a search without having to inform the subject of the search until weeks or months later.  Feingold’s amendment simply requires that the subjects of “sneak and peek” searches be notified of the search within seven days, unless a judge grants an extension because it is necessary to keep the search secret.  

“Despite the fact that this authority was pushed as part of the Patriot Act in the wake of September 11, it is not about terrorism at all,” Feingold said.  “A recent report on the use of these searches last year shows that the vast majority are conducted in drug cases, and almost none of them in terrorism cases.  This is an extraordinary authority, to allow government agents to break into people’s homes without telling them, and I am pleased that the Judiciary Committee agreed to include this important safeguard.”  

Feingold was disappointed, however, with the direction of the overall bill because key protections for the rights of law-abiding Americans have been removed.  In particular, Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL) offered an amendment, cosponsored by Feingold, to add a protection back into the bill to allow the government to secretly obtain Americans’ business records only where there is some connection to terrorism or espionage.  The amendment failed.  Feingold, who recently introduced the JUSTICE Act with Durbin and other senators to fix the USA PATRIOT Act and FISA Amendments Act, will continue to push for additional reforms as the Judiciary Committee continues to consider the reauthorization bill next week.

Senator Feingold’s opening statement on the PATRIOT Act reauthorization is available here.