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Patriot
Act Continues to Spark Debate |
Posted:
09.17.03
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Almost two years after the introduction of the USA Patriot Act,
President Bush is asking lawmakers to expand the powers provided
under the anti-terrorism legislation.
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The president's request
is the latest spark in the controversy over the USA Patriot Act
- the Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate
Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism Act - which Congress
signed into law one month after the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11,
2001.
 In
a speech delivered the day before the two-year anniversary of
Sept. 11, President Bush called on Congress to "untie the
hands of our law enforcement officials so they can fight and win
the war against terror."
The expanded powers would allow officials to
bypass a judge or grand jury in order to obtain subpoenas in
time-sensitive terrorism investigations. It would also deny bail
to terrorism suspects and open up the federal death penalty for
terror-related crimes that result in death.
Currently, the act allows officials to track an individual's
communications on the Internet, install telephone and computer
wiretaps, obtain search warrants for voice-mail and e-mail messages,
access personal information, such as medical, financial and educational
histories, and access library records without proof of a crime.
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Growing Criticism |
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 Supporters
and critics of the law are constantly at odds over what liberties
Americans should have to sacrifice in exchange for their safety.
The Patriot Act's most outspoken critic, the American Civil Liberties
Union, or ACLU, an 80-year-old civil rights watchdog organization,
called the act a "surveillance monster" and argued that
there were "virtually no rules" governing the new powers.
 The
act slowly eliminates judicial oversight and upsets checks and
balances, ACLU Executive Director Anthony Romero told Newsweek
magazine.
"Of course we want to be safe, but the government of the
United States under the leadership of George Bush and John Ashcroft
has perpetrated a cruel hoax on the American people," New
York Civil Liberties Union Executive Director Donna Lieberman
said. "It has taken advantage of this unspeakable tragedy
to launch a broadside against our fundamental rights."
Another complaint from civil liberties groups is that the law
is increasingly being used against criminals, who are not terrorists.
 A
man in North Carolina accused of running a methamphetamine lab
was charged with breaking a new state law that bars the manufacturing
of chemical weapons. If he is convicted he could get 12 years
to life, a crime that had previously only resulted in a six-month
sentence, the Associated Press reported.
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Defending
the Patriot Act |
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In an effort to rally support for the Patriot Act, Attorney General
John Ashcroft recently finished a 16-city tour, traveling across
the United States to speak to law enforcement officials in defense
of the act.
Ashcroft pointed to the triumphs the government has made under
the act since Sept. 11, 2001. Among them, federal prosecutors
have brought more than 250 criminal charges under the law, resulting
in more than 130 convictions or guilty pleas.
 "We
have used tools provided in the Patriot Act to fulfill our first
responsibility -- that of protecting the American people,"
Ashcroft said. "We've used these tools to provide the security
that ensures liberty."
Former Assistant Attorney General Viet Dinh said the act's success
is obvious because nothing has happened in the last two years,
an achievement for law enforcement officials, the Department of
Justice and Ashcroft.
Lawmakers, hoping to avoid the heated debates that surrounded
the passage of the original Patriot Act, are expected to quietly
attach additions to the Patriot Act to spending bills, which are
usually easier to pass in Congress.
--
Sheryl Silverman, Online NewsHour EXTRA
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The display of the Confederate flag is an act of imparting information or ideas and falls under the constitutional guarantees that protect free speech at school.
