January 26, 2022–Due Process Institute and 50 civil liberties and privacy groups urged Senate and House leaders to hold committee hearings on the Fourth Amendment Is Not For Sale Act (S.1265/H.R. 2738). Currently, this legislation enjoys bipartisan support in both chambers due to the disturbing practices of government agencies, ranging from the Internal Revenue Service to the Drug Enforcement Administration, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and Customs and Border Protection. These entities allege they can lawfully avoid the constitutional requirement for probable cause warrants by simply buying our personal information from commercial data brokers. The Fourth Amendment Is Not For Sale Act would close the statutory loopholes that allow the government to bypass the constitutional protections of the First and Fourth Amendment.
Furthermore, most Americans are still unaware of this commonplace practice by intelligence and law enforcement agencies. Holding committee hearings on this legislation would help underscore this disturbing fact, inform the American public about the desperate need for privacy protections, and build momentum for this legislation.