The question that matters comes up before things get off the rails.  Senator Hirono asks Attorney General Pam Bondi about the reauthorization of FISA-702 that will be needed when the authority expires next year.

The attorney general is clueless about the issue.  Bondi literally has to read her answer as prepared for her.  I’m not kidding, watch Pam Bondi’s response (prompted):

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If FISA-702 did not exist, the quasi-constitutional justification for the wholesale collection of U.S. citizen metadata no longer exists.  It really is that simple.

There is ZERO justification for the capture of U.S. citizen data by the government. The capture itself violates the Fourth Amendment.   The only way the government can justify the capture of U.S. Citizen data is if there is some quasi-constitutional or national security reason for it.

Take away “702” and the data collection collapses, ANY “incidental” search of the database then loses any plausible legal justification.  702 is the camel’s nose under the tent.