Freedom, Privacy, & Civil Liberties

Since coming to Congress, Senator Sununu has been a leader in safeguarding Americans’ basic Constitutional rights. From filibustering the PATRIOT Act to ensuring the government does not infringe upon the Second Amendment rights of law abiding Americans, John remains committed to protecting the civil liberties of all Americans.

PATRIOT Act Reauthorization – John had serious concerns with the lack of privacy protection contained in the original version of the USA PATRIOT Act. To that end, he worked for more than two years with the White House, the Department of Justice, and his Congressional colleagues on both sides of the aisle and in both chambers to reach agreement on reauthorization legislation that provided several new protections for civil liberties while maintaining the important law enforcement tools contained in the original PATRIOT Act. This effort resulted in President Bush signing two bills, reauthorizing the PATRIOT Act into law on March 9, 2006. The first was the PATRIOT Act reauthorization bill, H.R. 3199. The second was legislation John wrote, S. 2271, which added additional civil liberty safeguards to the PATRIOT Act reauthorization bill.

Protecting the Second Amendment – John has supported and cosponsored measures to prohibit gun registration and taxes on firearms and has opposed measures that inhibit law abiding citizens’ right to keep and bear arms. It is his position that ensuring safer homes, streets, and schools begins with effective enforcement of existing gun laws, coupled with an increased emphasis on greater individual responsibility. Further erosion of the Second Amendment will do little to keep criminals from breaking the law.

REAL ID – John is steadfast in his opposition to any form of a national identity card. To this end, Senator Sununu along with Senator Daniel Akaka introduced legislation to repeal portions of the REAL ID Act and give the States increased flexibility in producing tamper-resistant licenses while preventing the creation of a national database and protecting private information.

NSL Reform – Last fall, John joined Senator Russ Feingold (D-WI) in introducing bipartisian legislation to address the FBI’s misuse of National Security Letters (NSL) -- a type of secret subpoena used by the FBI -- detailed in a March 2007 report by the Inspector General for the Department of Justice. The National Security Reform Act (S. 2088) provides new statutory safeguards and protections and addresses the constitutional concerns regarding the restrictions imposed on the recipients of NSL’s.

Keeping Private Information Secure – Since coming to Congress, John has fought to protect citizens’ private information. As such, he has cosponsored legislation prohibiting the display, sale, or purchase of Social Security numbers without the affirmatively expressed consent of the individual. Furthermore, John was successful in adding language to the Improving America's Security Act (110-53) which requires annual reports on government data mining programs.

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