I 

118TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 237 

To repeal the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JANUARY 10, 2023 

Mr. BIGGS introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee 

on the Judiciary, and in addition to the Permanent Select Committee on 

Intelligence, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, 

in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned 

A BILL 

To repeal the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Fourth Amendment 

5 Restoration Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. REPEAL OF FOREIGN SURVEILLANCE AUTHORI7 TIES. 

8 The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978 

9 (50 U.S.C. 1801 et seq.) is repealed. 


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1 SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS. 

2 For the purposes of this Act— 

3 (a) PEN REGISTER AND TRAP AND TRACE DE4 VICE.—The terms ‘‘pen register’’ and ‘‘trap and trace de5 vice’’ have the meanings given such terms in section 3127 

6 of title 18, United States Code. 

7 (b) UNITED STATES CITIZEN.—The term ‘‘United 

8 States citizen’’ means an individual who is a citizen of the 

9 United States. 

10 (c) FOREIGN INTELLIGENCE INFORMATION.—The 

11 term ‘‘foreign intelligence information’’ means— 

12 (1) information that relates to, and if con13 cerning a United States citizen is necessary to, the 

14 ability of the United States to protect against— 

15 (A) actual or potential attack or other 

16 grave hostile acts of a foreign power or an 

17 agent of a foreign power; 

18 (B) sabotage, international terrorism, or 

19 the intentional proliferation of weapons of mass 

20 destruction by a foreign power or an agent of 

21 a foreign power; or 

22 (C) clandestine intelligence activities by an 

23 intelligence service or network of a foreign 

24 power or by an agent of a foreign power; or 


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1 (2) information with respect to a foreign power 

2 or foreign territory that relates to, and if concerning 

3 a United States citizen, is necessary to— 

4 (A) the national defense or the security of 

5 the United States; or 

6 (B) the conduct of the foreign affairs of 

7 the United States. 

8 (d) ELECTRONIC SURVEILLANCE.—The term ‘‘elec9 tronic surveillance’’ means— 

10 (1) the acquisition by an electronic, mechanical, 

11 or other surveillance device of the contents of any 

12 wire or radio communication sent by or intended to 

13 be received by a particular, known United States cit14 izen who is in the United States, if the contents are 

15 acquired by intentionally targeting that United 

16 States citizen, under circumstances in which a cit17 izen has a reasonable expectation of privacy and a 

18 warrant would be required for law enforcement pur19 poses; or 

20 (2) the installation or use of an electronic, me21 chanical, or other surveillance device in the United 

22 States for monitoring to acquire information, other 

23 than from a wire or radio communication, under cir24 cumstances in which a citizen has a reasonable exVerDate Sep 11 2014 00:44 Jan 20, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H237.IH H237

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1 pectation of privacy and a warrant would be re2 quired for law enforcement purposes. 

3 (e) WIRE COMMUNICATION.—The term ‘‘wire com4 munication’’ means any communication while it is being 

5 carried by a wire, cable, or other like connection furnished 

6 or operated by any person engaged as a common carrier 

7 in providing or operating such facilities for the trans8 mission of interstate or foreign communications. 

9 SEC. 4. PROHIBITIONS ON SURVEILLING UNITED STATES 

10 CITIZENS. 

11 (a) An officer of the United States must obtain a 

12 warrant issued using the procedures described in the Fed13 eral Rules of Criminal Procedure by a Federal court in 

14 order to conduct or request— 

15 (1) electronic surveillance of a United States 

16 citizen; 

17 (2) a physical search of a premises, informa18 tion, material, or property used exclusively by, or 

19 under the open and exclusive control of, a United 

20 States citizen; 

21 (3) approval of the installation and use of a pen 

22 register or trap and trace device, a sole or signifi23 cant purpose of which is to obtain foreign intel24 ligence information concerning a United States cit25 izen; 


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1 (4) the production of tangible things (including 

2 books, records, papers, documents, and other items) 

3 concerning a United States citizen to obtain foreign 

4 intelligence information; or 

5 (5) the targeting of a United States citizen for 

6 the acquisition of foreign intelligence information. 

7 (b) Any information concerning a United States cit8 izen acquired under Executive Order 12333 (50 U.S.C. 

9 3001 note; relating to United States intelligence activities) 

10 shall not be used in evidence against that United States 

11 citizen in any criminal, civil, or administrative proceeding 

12 or as part of any criminal, civil, or administrative inves13 tigation. 

14 SEC. 5. LIMITATION ON USE OF INFORMATION CON15 CERNING UNITED STATES CITIZENS. 

16 Any information concerning a United States citizen 

17 acquired during surveillance of a non-United States citizen 

18 shall not be used in evidence against that United States 

19 citizen in any criminal, civil, or administrative proceeding 

20 or as part of any criminal, civil, or administrative inves21 tigation. 

22 SEC. 6. CRIMINAL SANCTIONS. 

23 (a) A person is guilty of an offense if he inten24 tionally— 


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1 (1) engages in any of the offenses described in 

2 section 4, except as authorized by this Act, title 18, 

3 or any express statutory authorization that is an ad4 ditional exclusive means for conducting electronic 

5 surveillance under section 1812 of title 50; or 

6 (2) discloses or uses information obtained under 

7 color of law by any of the methods described in sec8 tion 4, paragraph (1), knowing or having reason to 

9 know that the information was obtained without au10 thorization by this chapter, title 18, or any express 

11 statutory authorization that is an additional exclu12 sive means for conducting electronic surveillance 

13 under section 1812 of title 50. 

14 (b) It is a defense to prosecution under subsection 

15 (a) that the defendant was a law enforcement officer or 

16 investigative officer engaging in the course of his official 

17 duties and the conduct was authorized and conducted pur18 suant to a search warrant or court order of a court of 

19 competent jurisdiction. 

20 (c) An offense described in this section is punishable 

21 by a fine of not more than $10,000 or imprisonment for 

22 not less than five years, or both. 

23 (d) There is a Federal jurisdiction over an offense 

24 under this section if the person committing the offense 


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1 was an officer or employee of the United States at the 

2 time the offense was committed. 

Æ 


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