GOP-led House scheduled to vote on bipartisan Fourth Amendment right to privacy bill on Wednesday

The legislation would stop the "federal government from circumventing Americans’ Fourth Amendment right to privacy by closing loopholes that allow the government to purchase Americans’ data from big tech companies without a search warrant."

By Nicholas Ballasy

Published: April 17, 2024 9:50am

The GOP-led House is scheduled to vote Wednesday on the bipartisan Fourth Amendment Is Not For Sale Act, sponsored by Rep. Warren Davidson, R-Ohio.

According to Davidson's office, the legislation would stop the "federal government from circumventing Americans’ Fourth Amendment right to privacy by closing loopholes that allow the government to purchase Americans’ data from big tech companies without a search warrant."

Reps. Zoe Lofgren, D-Calif., Jerry Nadler, D-N.Y., Andy Biggs, R-Ariz., and Pramila Jayapal, D-Wash., are among the co-sponsors of the bill.

The planned vote is the result of an agreement Johnson reached with House conservatives last week in exchange for not blocking, for the second time, a rule to allow House floor consideration of the bill to reauthorize section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) for 2 years instead of 5 years.

When the FISA bill was debated on the House floor, the amendment to end warrantless surveillance failed 212-212. The bill ultimately passed without the amendment.