Anonymous Republican Senator Blocking Bill That Would Require Search Warrants For E-Mail Searches

A bill that would require law enforcement to obtain a search warrant before searching email accounts has been blocked by an unknown Republican:

An anonymous Republican senator has delayed a vote on legislation that would require police to obtain a warrant before accessing emails and other online messages.

Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) pushed for a vote on the bill before Congress left for its August recess. He secured unanimous support from Democrats, but at least one Republican objected to the bill, according to a Democratic Senate aide.

Leahy had hoped to fast-track the bill to passage with unanimous support, but the opposition means a vote will be delayed until at least September.

A Leahy aide said the senator will continue to work with Republicans to address their concerns. The Senate could pass the legislation without unanimous support, but it would take up valuable floor time to override a filibuster.

It is unclear which Republican or Republicans objected to the bill, S. 607.

Way to uphold the Constitution Republicans!

FILED UNDER: Congress, Intelligence, National Security, US Politics, , ,
Doug Mataconis
About Doug Mataconis
Doug Mataconis held a B.A. in Political Science from Rutgers University and J.D. from George Mason University School of Law. He joined the staff of OTB in May 2010 and contributed a staggering 16,483 posts before his retirement in January 2020. He passed far too young in July 2021.

Comments

  1. Mark Ivey says:

    Boom Baby yeah……………….

  2. Eric Florack says:

    so, if the senator is anonymous, how is it we know it is a Republican?

    Even ignoring that aspect, do not make the mistake of assuming GOP equals conservative.

  3. PJ says:

    @Bithead:

    so, if the senator is anonymous, how is it we know it is a Republican?

    Time for you to get educated!

    In the United States Senate, a hold is a parliamentary procedure permitted by the Standing Rules of the United States Senate which allows one or more Senators to prevent a motion from reaching a vote on the Senate floor.

    If the Senator provides notice privately to his or her party leadership of their intent (and the party leadership agreed), then the hold is known as a secret or anonymous hold. If the Senator actually objects on the Senate floor or the hold is publicly revealed, then the hold is more generally known as a Senatorial hold.

    I’m probably just wasting time trying to explain things to you…

  4. C. Clavin says:

    “…Way to uphold the Constitution Republicans!…”

    Republicans only like certain parts of the Constitution. Really only the part that allows them to give guns to children so that they can shoot themselves and their little friends.

  5. mantis says:

    Shorter bithead: I dispute the facts out of ignorance, but if correct, no true Scotsman.

  6. John says:

    +C Clavin:
    And the only part of the Constitution that Democrats like is the part that says they don’t have to incriminate themselves under oath.

  7. C. Clavin says:

    @ John…
    Keep lying to yourself…it clearly is working for you.

  8. al-Ameda says:

    @Eric Florack:

    so, if the senator is anonymous, how is it we know it is a Republican?

    Oh, I don’t know why anyone would think it’s a Republican. This is from the imbedded link:

    Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) pushed for a vote on the bill before Congress left for its August recess. He secured unanimous support from Democrats, but at least one Republican objected to the bill, according to a Democratic Senate aide.

    Well, maybe it’s just me but …. I’m thinking that we know it’s a Republican because Leahy has unanimous support from Democrats.

  9. Matt Bernius says:

    @Eric Florack again demonstrates

    “Quod nescis aut non libet cogitare.”

  10. anjin-san says:

    @ Florack

    Even ignoring that aspect, do not make the mistake of assuming GOP equals conservative.

    Well, since in the year 2013 conservative no longer equals conservative, you should probably not stay up late sweating it.

  11. Jeff says:

    Anyone wanna bet its McCain?

  12. wr says:

    @Jeff: “Anyone wanna bet its McCain? ”

    Not a chance — because it’s an anonymous hold. McCain won’t take a leak without running to all the Sunday shows to announce it.

  13. Eric Florack says:

    @PJ: fine, far as you go. you’ve still not shown the holdup isn’t a Democrat.

  14. PJ says:

    @Bithead:

    fine, far as you go. you’ve still not shown the holdup isn’t a Democrat.

    As I suspected… maybe you need a story with pictures?

    Here’s a hint, the Senator has told his or her party leadership that he or she wants to put a hold on the bill. In this case, it’s a Republican Senator, that information is then given to the leadership of the majority, the Democrats. They have no clue who the Senator is and that’s why The Hill is reporting that it’s an unnamed Republican and not a Democrat.

  15. Scott says:

    Anybody have any reason why holds are allowed to be anonymous? There must be some history on the rationale.

  16. al-Ameda says:

    @Eric Florack:

    @PJ: fine, far as you go. you’ve still not shown the holdup isn’t a Democrat.

    Yes, given that Senator Leahy has UNANIMOUS support from Democrats, there is virtually no way to know or to infer that the hold-up is a Republican.

  17. anjin-san says:

    It’s worth noting that finding a way to blame Democrats is far more important to bithead that protecting what is left of our privacy…

  18. PJ says:

    @al-Ameda:

    Yes, given that Senator Leahy has UNANIMOUS support from Democrats, there is virtually no way to know or to infer that the hold-up is a Republican.

    In Bithead’s feverish mind, all Democrats lie, all the time. That explains it all.
    The fact that if that had been the case here then the Republicans would have been able to point at the Democrats yelling liars, doesn’t seem to have entered his mind….

  19. I bet one fun token that the Republican Senator in question is one from South Carolina named after a cracker.

  20. BTW, I don’t know why this Senator wants to keep his hold secret. After all, if he’s not doing anything wrong, he’s got nothing to hide, right?

  21. B. Minich says:

    So, then, can we go through the Senate’s email without a warrant, to figure out who this guy is? Maybe then we can go through his email without a warrant.

  22. Gustopher says:

    It’s not an anonymous senator holding things up, it’s Mitch McConnell, aka TurtleBoy.

    He may be doing so at the request of an anonymous Republican senator, but it’s TurtleBoy doing the legwork.

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  24. Neil Hudelson says:

    @site:

    Jeez even the mindless spam bots are able to learn faster than bithead.

  25. Matt Bernius says:

    @Neil Hudelson:

    Jeez even the mindless spam bots are able to learn faster than bithead.

    And just for that bit of brilliance, the spam posting (but not the link) will stay put.

  26. anjin-san says:

    bithead

    Remember, we are talking about the only person in the world with a dedicated music server.

  27. Barry says:

    What pisses me off the most is that this guy can do it anonymously.

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