The Congress is supposed to be a deliberative body, but deliberation was nowhere in sight on Friday, June 20. On that day, only 15 minutes were given to members of the House of Representatives to identify problems with H.R. 6304, the bill that unconstitutionally nullifies core provisions of the Fourth Amendment to the Constitution. Considering that the bill had been introduced to the House only 24 hours before, there was hardly enough time for members of the House to read the bill, making matters bad enough. But over and over, those who voiced dissent against H.R. 6304 were interrupted before they could finish their very brief remarks.

Consider the remarks of Representative Rush Holt of New Jersey, or at least as much of his remarks as he was able to spurt out before being shoved aside:

Unfortunately, the negotiators who brought this to the floor bought into the flawed assumptions of the Bush administration that because we live in a dangerous world, we must now redefine the Fourth Amendment and thus the fundamental relationship between the government and its people.

If this bill becomes law it will perhaps be the only lasting legacy of the Bush-Cheney administration’s overhaul of national security policy: a congressionally-blessed distortion of congressional checks and balances. It permits massive warrantless surveillance in the absence of any standard for defining how communications of innocent Americans will be protected — A fishing expedition approach to intelligence that we know will not make Americans more safe.

Its court review provisions are weak and narrowly defined. Now, I know some of those who negotiated this bill say some court review is better than no court review; that’s only true if the judge’s hands aren’t tied in the court review process. They are in this bill. There’s a fundamental American principle that those who search, seize, intercept and detain should not be the ones who decide who are the bad guys….

I imagine that Rep. Holt would have concluded by saying something like:

But this bill does just that. H.R. 6304 removes from the judiciary the ability to review the Attorney General’s determination of cause to search and seize the electronic communications and physical property of foreigners and citizens alike. If this bill passes, the Attorney General will determine whether the Attorney General’s determination is correct. It is Kafkaesque in its circular bureaucratic logic. It is a slap in the face to the principle of checks and balances. It is an invitation to the abuse of power. And that is why I intend to vote against this bill.

I imagine that, but in actuality I have no idea how Rep. Holt intended to finish, because Rep. Holt was not allowed to even complete his thought. Instead, he was interrupted by a supporter of H.R. 6304 who spoke:

Madam Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from California…

This was an instance of serious disrespect to Rush Holt, to the integrity of the Congress, and to the American concept of deliberative democracy. But more than that, it was an indication that those who shoved H.R. 6304 through the Congress were trying to keep something about the bill hidden and unspoken. Read the bill to find what a majority of Congress tried to hide.