Room for a View

Latest Victim of Terrorism:
The Bill of Rights

By Todd Paul

The USA Patriot Act was supposed to strengthen the federal government’s ability to fight terrorism and protect freedom. In fact, the act itself curtails freedom more effectively than any terrorist organization.

As signed into law by George Bush, the USA Patriot Act violates a significant portion of the Bill of Rights, potentially invalidating Amendments I, IV, V, VI and VIII of the US Constitution.
According to an ACLU legal analysis, the USA Patriot Act:
• Allows domestic groups to be labeled terrorist organizations, making membership or material support a serious offense. This violates the First Amendment, which guarantees the right of free speech and peaceable assembly. Non-citizens could even be detained or deported for providing assistance to groups that are not designated as terrorist organizations, as long as activity of the group can be said to be violent.

• Creates a new crime of “domestic terrorism,” whereby anyone could be considered a terrorist if they engage in conduct that “involves acts dangerous to human life.”

• Allows the government to use its intelligence gathering power to circumvent the standard that must be met for criminal wiretaps. Under the Patriot Act, surveillance needs only be justified by a “significant” purpose. In fact, any and all telephone and Internet activity may now be tapped or traced without judicial oversight. All that is necessary is for law enforcement to certify to a judge that the information to be obtained is “relevant to an ongoing criminal investigation.” The judge is then required to grant the wiretap or trace order.

• Authorizes “blank check” search warrants. The court issues the order, and the law enforcement agent fills in the places to be searched. This is in direct violation of the Fourth Amendment, which states that warrants must be issued based upon probable cause, and must particularly describe the place to be searched and the persons or things to be seized.

• Dramatically expands the use of secret searches. Normally, a person is notified when law enforcement searches their house, car or possessions. The Patriot Act allows the government to request “secret searches” in every criminal case—not just in the case of suspected terrorists.

• Grants the FBI broad access to records about a person maintained by a business. The FBI need only certify to a court that it is conducting an intelligence investigation and that the records it seeks may be relevant.

• Allows for the broad sharing of sensitive information in criminal cases with and between intelligence agencies, including the CIA, the NSA, the INS and the Secret Service.

• Permits the detention of non-citizens facing deportation based merely on the Attorney General’s certification that he has “reasonable grounds to believe” the non-citizen endangers national security. While immigration or criminal charges must be filed within seven days, these charges need not have anything to do with terrorism. If the suspect cannot be deported, he or she may be detained indefinitely.

In essence, this new law turns the clock back to the pre-Watergate days when the FBI’s duties included spying on American citizens.
In addition to the USA Patriot Act, Bush recently signed an executive order allowing non-citizens charged with terrorism—including lawful permanent residents of the US—to be tried by secret military tribunals. The accused would have no rights and quite possibly no legal representation. A suspected terrorist could be detained, tried and executed without the public ever knowing it.

Bush has also announced that in cases where suspected terrorists do have an attorney, their conversations with their attorney will be monitored, thus abrogating the attorney-client privilege.
These are not proposals. They are law.

The ACLU and Human Rights Watch have condemned these new laws as unconstitutional and dangerous expansions of government power at the expense of individual rights. For more information on the USA Patriot Act and other new laws affecting your freedom, visit the following Web sites: www.aclu.org; www.hrw.org.