The Senate Judiciary Committee markup of the Leahy PATRIOT Act reauthorization bill continues Thursday, October 8, with votes scheduled on amendments from Russ Feingold to strengthen protections against abuse of National Security Letters and repeal retroactive telecom immunity. These votes will have a major impact on the Senate legislation, so this is a key battle to win.

Between now and then, we need to pressure Democrats on the SJC to support Russ Feingold, Dick Durbin, and the other Senators who have sponsored the JUSTICE Act, a comprehensive approach to reforming the PATRIOT Act. A broad coalition including EFF, the ACLU, Bill of Rights Defense Committee, the American Library association and many other organizations support the JUSTICE Act

Our ask is straightforward: "Support the JUSTICE Act": vote for the amendments on Thursday, and sign on as co-sponsors to the JUSTICE Act.he Leahy PATRIOT Act reauthorization bill is the best chance yet for significant reform.

• On Twitter: tweet the link to this page, then follow the action on the #patriotact hashtag and retweet early and often! Here's three tweets to start you out:
• @RussFeingold and @SenDurbin, thanks for your tireless efforts to reform the #patriotact http://act.ly/kn (please RT)
• I’m not a terrorist–stop spying on Americans! Fix the #patriotact. http://act.ly/Rf Pls RT
• @SenArlenSpecter: Thanks for your #patriotact vote. Please support @RussFeingold this Thursday! http://act.ly/mp (pls RT)
• On Facebook: share this link in your feed, change your status to "I’m not a terrorist–stop spying on Americans! Fix the patriot act." and join the PASS the JUSTICE Act group.
  
• If you blog: check out our blogger resources and make a post!
• On the phone: call key Senate Judiciary committee members and your Senators and ask them to support the JUSTICE Act. You can find our talking points here; contact information for the SJC members is below.
  
• On the web: ACLU, EFF, DownSizeDC, and CREDO Action all have sites which make it easy to email your Senators.
  

For more information, see

• Tip of the Hat, Wag of the Finger: PATRIOT Edition -- Kevin Bankton's latest update from EFF.
• PATRIOT Reauthorization Begins. Badly. -- ACLU
  
• Can Skittles help fix the PATRIOT Act and FISA?, Jon Pincus, The Seminal
  
• Lawmakers Cave to FBI in Patriot Act Debate, David Kravetz, Wired's Threat Level
  
• Real Reform for the PATRIOT Act, Julian Sanchez, The American Prospect (also posted on Cato@Liberty)
• Our Best Chance Yet to Fix the PATRIOT Act and FISA, Jon Pincus' post on Pam's House Blend
• Comparisons of the JUSTICE Act and Leahy's bill from Center for Democracy and Technology, Julian Sanchez on Cato@Liberty, and Marcy Wheeler on Emptywheel
  
• Action Alerts from the American Library Association, DownSizeDC, and Democrats.com
  
• Reform the Patriot Act, with a wealth of information
• Letter to the Senate Judiciary committee from a coalition of 23 organizations
  
• The coalition's letter in Support of the JUSTICE Act and statements of support from EFF and the ACLU
• Senator Feingold's JUSTICE Act announcement

Contact information for the Senate Judiciary Committee Democrats we will be showing the way on this issue:

SJC Senate Democrat	DC Office Phone Number	Facebook Account	Twitter Account
Chairman Patrick Leahy	(202) 224-4242	Leahy Facebook
Sen. Herb Kohl (D-WI)	(202) 224-5653	Kohl Facebook
Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA)	(202) 224-3841	Feinstein Facebook
Sen. Russell D. Feingold (D-WI)	(202) 224-5323	Feingold Facebook	@RussFeingold
Sen. Charles E. Schumer (D-NY)	(202) 224-6542	Schumer Facebook	@ChuckSchumer
Sen. Richard J. Durbin (D-Illinois)	(202) 224-2152	Durbin Facebook
Sen. Benjamin L. Cardin (D-MD)	(202) 224-4524	Cardin Facebook
Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI)	(202) 224-2921	Whitehouse Facebook
Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN)	(202) 224-3244	Klobuchar Facebook
Sen. Edward E. Kaufman (D-DE)	(202) 224-5042	Kaufman Facebook
Sen. Arlen Specter (D-PA)	(202) 224-4254	Specter Facebook	@SenArlenSpecter
Sen. Al Franken (D-MN)	202-224-5641	Franken Facebook

About Get FISA Right

The "Senator Obama, Please Get FISA Right" MyBo group started organically before a group of volunteers helped it go viral in 2008. Bloggers were undoubtedly instrumental in that effort through their writing----and we need your help again today!

As the MyBo group gained a large following, we used a wiki/collaborative process to create an open letter to Obama. A vast amount of blog coverage begot MSM coverage, and in unprecedented fashion Obama responded to the group both on MyBo and on the Huffington Post. We lost the legislative battle--and the content of Obama's response was not what we were hoping for--but we were successful at helping change the national debate, attaining Obama's attention, and successfully opening up a direct line of communication with him.

Now, with PATRIOT Act and FISA reform coming up, many of us are back and ready to expand upon last summers' successes. Please join us Organizing for America, Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, and Wetpaint.