To the editor:

In a recent email to constituents, Congressman Kevin Yoder expressed alarm about the National Security Agency’s surveillance of Americans’ phone calls and Internet activity. Yoder writes that he is concerned about “the massive overreach of government power…. They (the administration) do not have carte blanche to blatantly disregard the Fourth Amendment protections of Americans and investigate every law-abiding citizen.”

The ACLU concurs with the congressman’s concerns, but they seem out of sync with his voting record.

In 2011, Congressman Yoder voted to extend Patriot Act provisions that give the government sweeping authority to spy on individuals inside the United States — in some cases, without any suspicion of wrongdoing. He also voted against an amendment to protect library and bookstore records from suspicion-less government searches under Section 215 of the Patriot Act.

We hope Congressman Yoder’s newfound unease about NSA surveillance will lead him to reconsider the wisdom of some of his past votes.