In August 2007, McConnell co-sponsored the Protect America Act (S. 1927), a temporary amendment to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA). It was rushed through Congress just before the August recess and signed by President Bush on August 5, 2007.

The law allowed the National Security Agency to conduct warrantless surveillance of communications as long as one party was "reasonably believed" to be outside the United States — even when the other party was an American citizen on U.S. soil. It removed the requirement for individualized court warrants that had been a cornerstone of FISA since 1978.

How It Harmed Americans:

This law authorized the mass collection of Americans' international phone calls and emails without probable cause or judicial oversight. It set the stage for the broader FISA Amendments Act of 2008, which institutionalized these warrantless surveillance programs.

In 2013, whistleblower Edward Snowden revealed the full scope of these programs — including PRISM and upstream collection — confirming that the NSA was collecting vast amounts of Americans' private communications. Multiple federal courts have since found aspects of this surveillance unconstitutional. The erosion of Fourth Amendment protections against warrantless searches traces directly back to legislation McConnell championed.

Reference List:

S. 1927, Protect America Act of 2007, 110th Congress
Klitzman, et al. v. Obama, Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court rulings (declassified)
Office of the Director of National Intelligence, "Statistical Transparency Report Regarding Use of National Security Authorities"
Electronic Frontier Foundation, "How the NSA's Warrantless Surveillance Program Worked"