[Congressional Bills 109th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 2468 Introduced in Senate (IS)]








109th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                S. 2468

 To provide standing for civil actions for declaratory and injunctive 
 relief to persons who refrain from electronic communications through 
   fear of being subject to warrantless electronic surveillance for 
         foreign intelligence purposes, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                             March 29, 2006

  Mr. Schumer introduced the following bill; which was read twice and 
               referred to the Committee on the Judiciary

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 To provide standing for civil actions for declaratory and injunctive 
 relief to persons who refrain from electronic communications through 
   fear of being subject to warrantless electronic surveillance for 
         foreign intelligence purposes, and for other purposes.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. STANDING FOR DECLARATORY AND INJUNCTIVE RELIEF FOR PERSONS 
              WHO REFRAIN FROM ELECTRONIC COMMUNICATIONS BY REASON OF 
              FEAR OF WARRANTLESS ELECTRONIC SURVEILLANCE.

    (a) Standing.--A United States citizen who has refrained or will 
refrain from wire communications because of a reasonable fear that such 
communications will be the subject of electronic surveillance conducted 
without an order issued in accordance with title I of the Foreign 
Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978 (50 U.S.C. 1801 et seq.) under a 
claim of Presidential authority under either the Constitution of the 
United States or the Authorization for Use of Military Force (Public 
Law 107-40; 115 Stat. 224; 50 U.S.C. 1541 note) shall have a cause of 
action and shall be entitled to declaratory or injunctive relief with 
respect to such electronic surveillance.
    (b) Rules Applicable To Actions.--In any action for declaratory or 
injunctive relief under subsection (a), the following shall apply:
            (1) The action shall be filed in the United States District 
        Court for the District of Columbia and shall be heard by a 3-
        judge court convened pursuant to section 2284 of title 28, 
        United States Code.
            (2) A copy of the complaint shall be delivered promptly to 
        the Attorney General, the Clerk of the House of 
        Representatives, and the Secretary of the Senate.
            (3) A reasonable fear shall be established by evidence that 
        the person bringing the action--
                    (A) has and will continue to have regular wire 
                communications from the United States to one or more 
                persons in Afghanistan, Iraq, Pakistan, or any country 
                designated as a state sponsor of terrorism in the 
                course of that person's paid employment doing 
                journalistic, academic, or other research pertaining to 
                terrorism or terrorist groups; or
                    (B) has engaged and will continue to engage in one 
                or more commercial transactions with a bank or other 
                financial institution in a country described in 
                subparagraph (A).
            (4) The procedures and standards of the Classified 
        Information Procedures Act (18 U.S.C. App.) shall apply to the 
        action.
            (5) A final decision in the action shall be reviewable only 
        by appeal directly to the Supreme Court of the United States. 
        Such appeal shall be taken by the filing of a notice of appeal 
        within 10 days, and the filing of a jurisdictional statement 
        within 30 days, of the entry of the final decision.
            (6) It shall be the duty of the United States District 
        Court for the District of Columbia and the Supreme Court of the 
        United States to advance on the docket and to expedite to the 
        greatest possible extent the disposition of the action and 
        appeal.
    (c) Definitions.--In this section, the terms ``electronic 
surveillance'' and ``wire communication'' have the meaning given such 
terms in section 101 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 
1978 (50 U.S.C. 1801).
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