Dec 28, 1977 · legislation
Carter signs IEEPA, replacing broad emergency trade powers
President Carter signed the International Emergency Economic Powers Act on December 28, 1977, replacing the Trading with the Enemy Act as the primary source of presidential emergency economic authority in peacetime. Congress drafted IEEPA to limit presidential power after a Senate investigation found the country had been in a continuous state of emergency for more than 40 years. The law required the president to declare a national emergency, consult with Congress, and justify emergency actions tied to a foreign threat. Carter first used IEEPA the following year to freeze Iranian government assets after the Tehran embassy hostage seizure.
Nov 18, 1975 · investigation
Church Committee Exposes COINTELPRO and NSA Project SHAMROCK
The Senate Select Committee to Study Governmental Operations, chaired by Sen. Frank Church of Idaho, released findings in November 1975 exposing the FBI's COINTELPRO program, which surveilled and disrupted civil rights organizations including the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, and the NSA's Project SHAMROCK, which intercepted bulk cable traffic from major telecoms without warrants. The committee documented over two decades of warrantless domestic surveillance conducted without congressional oversight or judicial approval. The revelations directly prompted Congress to draft the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act to impose legal constraints on intelligence agency surveillance of Americans.