Denunciations of the National Security Agency are officially coming from all corners now as leaders of the Republican party passed a resolution Friday calling for an investigation into the “gross infringement” of Americans’ rights.
The resolution calls the vast dragnet operations, namely the collection of phone data records, “an invasion into the personal lives of American citizens that violates the right of free speech and association afforded by the First Amendment” and is “contrary to the right of privacy protected by the Fourth Amendment.”
The measure, the “Resolution to Renounce the National Security Agency’s Surveillance Program,” passed by an “overwhelming majority,” according to Republican National Committee (RNC) chairman Reince Priebus, as party leaders took a voice vote on a package of RNC proposals.
“Not a single member rose to object or call for further debate, as occurred for other resolutions,” MSNBC reports.
The resolution calls on on Republican members of Congress to enact amendments to Section 215 of the Patriot Act that currently allows the spy agency to collect records of almost every domestic telephone call, reports Time Magazine, which published an exclusive story on the resolution.
“This is, to put it mildly, a new position for the Republican National Committee,” MSNBC continues. “When the New York Times revealed that the NSA had wiretapped American citizens without warrants in late 2005, the RNC used their 2006 winter meeting to strongly defend the program’s national security value.”
Following the spying revelations, made public by NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden, many have accused members of the Democratic party of playing party politics and defending surveillance activities conducted under President Obama.
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