In the News

Rep. Suzan DelBene (D-Wash.) has found bipartisan partners for her email warrant bill.

Rep. Warren Davidson (R-Ohio) and Sens. Mike Lee (R-Utah) and Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) are signing onto DelBene’s Email Privacy Act on Monday, a once-popular bill that had languished in recent congresses.

The renewed interest comes as privacy hawks have pressed for warrant requirements in a separate debate over renewing Section 702 of FISA, which expires June 12.

Right now, the government doesn’t need a warrant to obtain emails that are more than 180 days old. DelBene’s bill would create warrant requirements for emails regardless of their date and allow email providers to alert users that law enforcement has accessed their data.

“The current law governing online privacy standards is egregiously out of date, leaving millions of Americans’ private communications and data vulnerable,” DelBene said in a statement.

For the first time, the latest version of DelBene’s email bill would also extend to cloud providers and related services.

Long path. The bill’s origins date back to 2013. It was bipartisan then, led by former Reps. Kevin Yoder (R-Kan.) and Jared Polis (D-Colo.). Over the years, it passed the House three times but was always blocked in the Senate (despite prior support from Wyden, Lee and others).

DelBene took over the bill from Rep. Jerry Nadler (D-N.Y.) in 2022, without any additional cosponsors or a Senate companion. She didn’t even reintroduce it last Congress.

Now, in the midst of fierce debate about renewing Section 702 — the government’s power to monitor the communications of foreigners abroad — warrant requirements are back in the spotlight.

Davidson and other conservative hardliners want the government to get court-sign-off when that spying picks up conversations that include Americans. So far, the issue has helped stop a longer-term reauthorization of 702, though lawmakers managed a short-term extension in April.

As we reported this morning, negotiators are close to a compromise that would reauthorize 702 for three years, including a narrowing of the definition of electronic communications service provider.

That potential extension and definition tweak likely wouldn’t go far enough for Davidson, Lee, Wyden and other privacy hawks. In addition to warrants, Davidson and his allies have demanded a House-passed ban on central bank digital currency.