Privacy, Tech Groups Urge Senate Judiciary to Move PCLOB Nominees

The Senate Judiciary Committee should “expeditiously” consider the final two nominations to the Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board, 31 groups wrote committee leadership Wednesday. The Center for Democracy and Technology, Electronic Frontier Foundation, Electronic Privacy Information Center, New America’s Open Technology Institute, Public Knowledge, R Street Institute and TechFreedom signed. University of Virginia law professor Aditya Bamzai and former FCC Enforcement Bureau Chief Travis LeBlanc are expected to round out the five-member board, which currently has one sitting member. The committee in February advanced to the floor President Donald Trump’s nominee to chair the board, Adam Klein, former law clerk to late Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia (see 1803290050). The committee in June advanced two other nominees: former White House Deputy Chief Technologist Edward Felten and Jane Nitze, former clerk to Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor (see 1806210043). The full Senate hasn't acted on those nominations.