1. United States
2. Ohio
3. Letter

I am writing as your constituent to express my firm opposition to any reauthorization of Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) that does not include an explicit, mandatory requirement for a judicial warrant before federal agencies can query and access the communications of Americans. As we approach the April 30 expiration deadline, it is imperative to move beyond the false binary that pits national security against privacy. The issue at hand is one of constitutional governance. Under the current interpretation of Section 702, agencies are effectively authorized to conduct warrantless backdoor searches of Americans’ phone calls, texts, and emails that were incidentally collected. This practice is in direct conflict with the 4th Amendment, which protects the people of the United States from unreasonable searches and seizures. When the government bypasses the judicial branch—the neutral and detached magistrate—to authorize the search of private communications, it is not conducting intelligence gathering; it is asserting executive power that supersedes constitutional restraint. Recent legislative proposals circulating in the House attempt to mask this constitutional infirmity with provisions that offer the appearance of reform without the substance. These superficial reform measures fail to address the core problem: the ability of the FBI and other agencies to use Section 702 as a workaround for the warrant requirement that the Constitution mandates for criminal investigations. We must not accept a system that creates a disparate impact on the civil liberties of Americans simply for the convenience of intelligence operations. The fact that the government has historically abused this authority to search for the personal information of U.S. persons—including protesters and political figures—is a matter of public record and documented oversight failures. I urge you to reject any FISA extension that fails to include a mandatory judicial warrant requirement for all queries involving Americans. My support in the upcoming election cycle will be determined by whether you act to uphold the 4th Amendment protections of your constituents, or if you continue to prioritize unchecked surveillance capabilities over the foundational principles of the rule of law.