Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY) accused Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) of dealing a fatal blow to the Constitution on Friday when he cast the deciding vote against the mandate for warrants in searches of Americans’ communications.

Massie wrote, “This is how the Constitution dies. By a tie vote, the amendment to require a warrant to spy on Americans goes down in flames. This is a sad day for America. The Speaker doesn’t always vote in the House, but he was the tie breaker today. He voted against warrants.”

Massie addressed the chamber while discussing Rep. Andy Biggs’s (R-AZ) amendment, which aimed to mandate a warrant for searches of Americans under Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA). Section 702 is primarily designed to target foreign adversaries, but it frequently monitors Americans’ communications without a warrant.

The majority of Americans strongly support the need for warrant requirements. According to a YouGov poll conducted by FreedomWorks and Demand Progress, 76 percent of Americans believe that government agencies should be obligated to obtain a warrant before searching Americans’ communications. Previously, Johnson had endorsed the USA RIGHTS Act, a bill that included even more stringent warrant requirements compared to the one proposed by Biggs.

“Today is a dark day for America,” Rep. Troy Nehls (R-TX) said in a written statement after the vote. “It is no secret that the DOJ and the FBI have used and abused FISA to spy on not only the greatest president of my lifetime, Donald J. Trump, but spy on everyday Americans. I could not, in good conscience, vote to give our nation’s weaponized DOJ the power to mass surveil the American people without significant reforms, such as a warrant requirement.”