Montana 2006 3-way Senate Debate: on Civil Rights


Stan Jones: Patriot Act cost us our Fourth Amendment rights

Q: What do you think about Executive Authority with regards to warrantless wiretapping?

TESTER: It deals with the freedoms that so many people have fought and died for. If we want to get serious about the War on Terror, we need to make the investments to fight the war on terror. We ought not be taking rights away from honest citizens.

JONES: e’ve lost our Fourth Amendment rights; now there’s no protection to our privacy. Senator, you’re telling me I’m guilty of being a terrorist first. All you have to do is accuse me, and the Patriot Act applies to me, and I’m guilty and have to prove I’m innocent. You’ve turned our legal system upside down. We have to turn this off.

BURNS: The Patriot Act is a tool that is in place now for drug kingpins and organized crime. Why don’t you want that extended to terrorists? If you repeal it, there goes the Meth Control Act, and the ability to monitor international phone calls from known numbers of people who want to kill us.

Source: 2006 Montana 3-way Senate Debate at MSU Oct 9, 2006

  • The above quotations are from Sen. Conrad Burns (R-MT) Jon Tester (D) & Stan Jones (Libertarian) debate at Montana State University in Bozeman, Montana. Sponsored by Montana PBS, Oct. 9, 2006..
  • Click here for definitions & background information on Civil Rights.
  • Click here for other issues (main summary page).
Candidates and political leaders on Civil Rights:

Retired Senate as of Jan. 2015:
GA:Chambliss(R)
IA:Harkin(D)
MI:Levin(D)
MT:Baucus(D)
NE:Johanns(R)
OK:Coburn(R)
SD:Johnson(D)
WV:Rockefeller(D)

Resigned from 113th House:
AL-1:Jo Bonner(R)
FL-19:Trey Radel(R)
LA-5:Rod Alexander(R)
MA-5:Ed Markey(D)
MO-9:Jo Ann Emerson(R)
NC-12:Melvin Watt(D)
SC-1:Tim Scott(R)
Retired House to run for Senate or Governor:
AR-4:Tom Cotton(R)
GA-1:Jack Kingston(R)
GA-10:Paul Broun(R)
GA-11:Phil Gingrey(R)
HI-1:Colleen Hanabusa(D)
IA-1:Bruce Braley(D)
LA-6:Bill Cassidy(R)
ME-2:Mike Michaud(D)
MI-14:Gary Peters(D)
MT-0:Steve Daines(R)
OK-5:James Lankford(R)
PA-13:Allyson Schwartz(D)
TX-36:Steve Stockman(R)
WV-2:Shelley Capito(R)
Retired House as of Jan. 2015:
AL-6:Spencer Bachus(R)
AR-2:Tim Griffin(R)
CA-11:George Miller(D)
CA-25:Howard McKeon(R)
CA-33:Henry Waxman(D)
CA-45:John Campbell(R)
IA-3:Tom Latham(R)
MN-6:Michele Bachmann(R)
NC-6:Howard Coble(R)
NC-7:Mike McIntyre(D)
NJ-3:Jon Runyan(R)
NY-4:Carolyn McCarthy(D)
NY-21:Bill Owens(D)
PA-6:Jim Gerlach(R)
UT-4:Jim Matheson(D)
VA-8:Jim Moran(D)
VA-10:Frank Wolf(R)
Please consider a donation to OnTheIssues.org!
Click for details -- or send donations to:
1770 Mass Ave. #630, Cambridge MA 02140
E-mail: submit@OnTheIssues.org
(We rely on your support!)

Page last updated: Feb 19, 2019