, and Mr. Cheney has made the most of it. Since 9/11, he has proclaimed that all checks and balances and individual liberties are subservient to the president's commander in chief powers in confronting international terrorism. Let's review the record of his abuses and excesses:

The anti-Real ID amendment is backed by two Montana Democrats, Max Baucus and Jon Tester, who say the digital ID cards represent an unreasonable government intrusion into Americans' private lives. In April, Montana became one of the states that has voted to reject Real ID.

"This was a real victory for Montana and the American people," Tester said, after the Senate vote to kill their amendment failed to muster a majority. The unsuccessful vote to table it was 45-52.

The Senate Judiciary Committee subpoenaed the White House and Vice President Dick Cheney's office Wednesday for documents relating to President Bush's warrantless eavesdropping program.

CIA Announces Declassification of 1970s "Skeletons" File, Archive Posts Justice Department Summary from 1975, With White House Memcons on Damage Control

California has an opportunity to set some standards before the technology is widely used by state and local governments. A sound policy could dissuade some of the craziest ideas. Remember the Sutter elementary school that issued RFID lanyards to kids a couple of years ago to track them throughout the day?

A perfectly reasonable bill to ensure greater openness in government sits on the shelf in Congress, and it is says a lot that the bill itself has been bottled up in secrecy.

It's time to put the Senate on notice that we think a national ID scheme is un-American, dangerous and wrong. Our Senators will be voting on amendments to the immigration bill that will remove REAL ID provisions from the bill either today or tomorrow (June 26th or 27th): we need to get these amendments passed.

I am proud to note that on June 13, 2007, South Carolina joined this group. I was among those invited to the public gathering at a local DMV where Governor Mark Sanford enthusiastically signed into law our bill S.449 which “provide[s] that the state [of South Carolina] shall not participate in the implementation of the federal Real ID Act.” We became the 16th state to opt out with what is very likely the strongest anti-ID measure to date.

"The people of New Hampshire are adamantly opposed to any kind of 'papers-please' society reminiscent of Nazi Germany and Stalinist Russia," said Neal Kurk, a Republican state representative from New Hampshire. "This is another effort of the federal government to keep track of all its citizens."

Ask Senate leadership to bring the OPEN Government Act to the floor! The Senate Judiciary passed the OPEN Government Act (S. 849) in April and it now awaits floor time to pass the Senate. The OPEN Government Act would increase public access to government information by strengthening the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA).