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Hillary Clinton on Civil Liberties and Domestic Security
This candidate has withdrawn from the election
"As I noted at the outset, apart from these concerns, the Patriot Act contains provisions that provide law enforcement with important tools in the War on Terror. Because we cannot afford to be without these tools, I am supporting bipartisan legislation that will extend the sunsetting provisions of the Patriot Act by three months."
Voted YES on reauthorizing the PATRIOT Act. This vote reauthorizes the PATRIOT Act with some modifications (amendments). Voting YEA extends the PATRIOT Act, and voting NAY would phase it out. The official summary of the bill is: A bill to clarify that individuals who receive FISA orders can challenge nondisclosure requirements, that individuals who receive national security letters are not required to disclose the name of their attorney, that libraries are not wire or electronic communication service providers unless they provide specific services, and for other purposes.
USA PATRIOT Act Additional Reauthorization Amendment Bill S. 2271 ; vote number 2006-025 on Mar 1, 2006
"The balance between the urgent goal of combating terrorism and the safeguarding of our most fundamental constitutional freedoms is not always an easy one to draw. However, they are not incompatible, and unbridled and unchecked executive power is not the answer."
Voted NO on extending the PATRIOT Act's wiretap provision. Vote to invoke cloture on a conference report that extends the authority of the FBI to conduct ""roving wiretaps"" and access business records. Voting YES would recommend, in effect, that the PATRIOT Act be extended through December 31, 2009, and would makes the provisions of the PATRIOT Act permanent. Voting NO would extend debate further, which would have the effect of NOT extending the PATRIOT Act's wiretap provision.
Motion for Cloture of PATRIOT Act; Bill HR 3199 ; vote number 2005-358 on Dec 16, 2005
"The administration's refrain has been, 'Trust us,'" Clinton said. "That's unacceptable. Their track record doesn't warrant our trust. Unchecked mass surveillance without judicial review may sometimes be legal but it is dangerous. Every president should save those powers for limited critical situations."
2008 speculation in Associated Press Jun 16, 2006
Voted YES on loosening restrictions on cell phone wiretapping. Motion to table (kill) the amendment that would provide that in order to conduct roving surveillance, the person implementing the order must ascertain that the target of the surveillance is present in the house or is using the phone that has been tapped.
Bill S1510 ; vote number 2001-300 on Oct 11, 2001
Voted YES on preserving habeus corpus for Guantanamo detainees.
Specter Amendment; Bill S.AMDT.5087 to S.3930 ; vote number 2006-255
Voted NO on Military Commission Act
Military Commissions Act of 2006, Pub. L. No. 109-366, 120 Stat. 2600 (Oct. 17, 2006)
"any effort to resolve the legal status of the detainees at Guantanamo, must at this stage include a discussion of the logic of continuing to keep the facility open."
"I have long believed that the right to habeas corpus offers fundamental protection against unchecked government power. It is a constitutionally guaranteed right. The Supreme Court should reaffirm this principle in the Boumediene case now pending and correct the mistake Congress made when it attempted to rescind habeas corpus through the Military Commissions Act."
Voted YES on requiring CIA reports on detainees and interrogation methods. Amendment to provide for congressional oversight of certain Central Intelligence Agency programs. The underlying bill S. 3930 authorizes trial by military commission for violations of the law of war. The amendment requires quarterly reports describing all CIA detention facilities; the name of each detainee; their suspected activities; and each interrogation technique authorized for use and guidelines on the use of each such technique.
Rockefeller Amendment; Bill S.AMDT.5095 to S.3930 ; vote number 2006-256 on Sep 28, 2006
"In the event we were ever confronted with having to interrogate a detainee with knowledge of an imminent threat to millions of Americans, then the decision to depart from standard international practices must be made by the President, and the President must be held accountable," she said.
"Those are very rare [ticking time bomb scenarios], but if they occur, there has to be some lawful authority for pursuing it [torture]," she said, before expalining in detail that methods like bribery work better than torture. But she was willing to go for harsh methods in the ticking bomb scenario. "In those instances where we have sufficient basis to believe that there is something imminent, yeah, but then we've got to have a check and balance on that."
RUSSERT: I want to move to another subject, and this involves a comment that a guest on "Meet the Press" made, and I want to read it, as follows: "Imagine the following scenario. We get lucky. We get the number three guy in Al Qaida. We know there's a big bomb going off in America in three days and we know this guy knows where it is. Don't we have the right and responsibility to beat it out of him? You could set up a law where the president could make a finding or could guarantee a pardon." CLINTON: As a matter of policy it cannot be American policy period. I met with those same three- and four-star retired generals, and their principal point -- in addition to the values that are so important for our country to exhibit -- is that there is very little evidence that it works. Now, there are a lot of other things that we need to be doing that I wish we were: better intelligence; making, you know, our country better respected around the world; working to have more allies. But these hypotheticals are very dangerous because they open a great big hole in what should be an attitude that our country and our president takes toward the appropriate treatment of everyone. And I think it's dangerous to go down this path.