3.0.0 876 2023-01-11T13:19:22Z 2023-01-11T13:19:22Z Senate S S 2009-04-23 111 ssju00 Judiciary Committee Senate Standing Referred to 2009-04-23T18:36:27Z 2009-04-23 ssju00 Judiciary Committee Senate Read twice and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary. (text of measure as introduced: CR S4678-4679) IntroReferral 2009-04-23 Sponsor introductory remarks on measure. (CR S4678) IntroReferral B00100 9 Library of Congress 2009-04-23 Introduced in Senate IntroReferral 10000 9 Library of Congress S000709 Sen. Specter, Arlen [R-PA] ARLEN SPECTER R PA N W000802 Sen. Whitehouse, Sheldon [D-RI] Sheldon Whitehouse D RI 2009-04-23 True Law Civil actions and liability Evidence and witnesses Intelligence activities, surveillance, classified information Telephone and wireless communication Terrorism Law 00 2009-04-23 Introduced in Senate 2009-05-18T16:13:07Z Amends the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978 Amendments Act of 2008 to require a federal or state court to substitute the United States for an electronic communication service provider with respect to any claim in a covered civil action if the Attorney General certifies to the court that either: (1) the service provider did not provide the alleged assistance; or (2) the assistance alleged to have been provided was in connection with an intelligence activity involving communications authorized by the President between September 11, 2001, and January 17, 2007, and designed to detect or prevent a terrorist attack, or activities in preparation for a terrorist attack, against the United States. Requires the alleged provider assistance to be described in a written request or directive from the Attorney General or the head of an element of the intelligence community to the electronic communication service provider indicating that the activity was authorized by the President and determined to be lawful.

Requires a federal or state court, upon receiving such a certification, to: (1) substitute the United States for the electronic communication service provider as the defendant as to all claims designated by the Attorney General in the certification; (2) dismiss all such designated claims against the provider; and (3) enter a final judgment relating to those claims.

Provides that the electronic communication service provider shall remain as a defendant if the Attorney General's certification states that not all of the alleged assistance was provided under a written request or directive.

Allows substitution only after a determination by the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (after certification by the Attorney General) that the directive requesting provider assistance was lawful and that the assistance was provided in good faith of the lawfulness of the directive.

Provides that, in a covered civil action in which the United States is substituted as a party-defendant, any plaintiff may serve third-party discovery requests to any electronic communications service provider as to which all claims are dismissed.

]]> A bill to provide for the substitution of the United States in certain civil actions relating to electronic service providers and FISA. Display Title A bill to provide for the substitution of the United States in certain civil actions relating to electronic service providers and FISA. Official Title as Introduced A bill to provide for the substitution of the United States in certain civil actions relating to electronic service providers and FISA. Introduced in Senate IS Introduced in Senate 2009-04-23T04:00:00Z https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/BILLS-111s876is/xml/BILLS-111s876is.xml 2009-04-23 Read twice and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary. (text of measure as introduced: CR S4678-4679) text/xml EN Pursuant to Title 17 Section 105 of the United States Code, this file is not subject to copyright protection and is in the public domain. Congressional Research Service, Library of Congress This file contains bill summaries and statuses for federal legislation. A bill summary describes the most significant provisions of a piece of legislation and details the effects the legislative text may have on current law and federal programs. Bill summaries are authored by the Congressional Research Service (CRS) of the Library of Congress. As stated in Public Law 91-510 (2 USC 166 (d)(6)), one of the duties of CRS is "to prepare summaries and digests of bills and resolutions of a public general nature introduced in the Senate or House of Representatives". For more information, refer to the User Guide that accompanies this file.