Patriot Act sequel/sp/worse than original
By Rajeev Goyle
Originally published February 21, 2003
sunspot.net
JUST WHEN we thought the Bush administration's assault
on our constitutional protections had begun to subside
comes news that Attorney General John Ashcroft is
prepared to go even further.
The Justice Department over the last several months has
prepared draft legislation - the USA Patriot Act II - that
expands the war on terrorism in dangerous ways. It
enlarges many of the controversial provisions in the first
USA Patriot Act, which passed Congress in the shocking
days after Sept. 11.
Overnight, that bill weakened constitutional safeguards
that took us decades to build. This bill, if enacted in its
present form, would do even worse damage. By giving itself
unprecedented power to wiretap citizens, detain people in
secret, revoke citizenship and disseminate citizens'
confidential information, the administration has trained
its sights not only on terrorists but on the very freedom it
purports to uphold.
After all, it was President Bush who famously admonished
us that we should not let the terrorists win by changing
our open, free society and that we should live normally, go
on about our business, travel and spend money. Many of us
heeded his advice, albeit somewhat anxiously.
But the administration did not respond in kind. Instead of
upholding America's great tradition of respecting the rule
of law, it has decided that no power is too great. Consider
some of what is in Patriot II:
Wiretapping individuals for 15 days, without consulting a
judge, if the government declares a national emergency.
Sampling and cataloguing genetic information without
court order and without consent.
Permitting and encouraging the dissemination of
confidential, sensitive information about citizens' credit
cards and educational records among federal, state and
local law enforcement officials.
Encouraging people to spy on one another by giving
businesses blanket immunity to phone in false terrorism
tips, even if done with reckless disregard for the truth.
Prohibiting the release of information about people the
government has detained, even if they have not been
charged with a crime, by creating loopholes in the
Freedom of Information Act.
Stripping Americans of their citizenship if they associate
with an organization that the Justice Department
unilaterally determines to be related to terrorism.
And this is just a sampling.
The problem with the administration's approach is not its
vigor - people from all racial, political and religious groups
want to bring terrorists swiftly to justice - but its
overreach and its vast potential for abuse. Preventing
abuse is the reason we have constitutional checks and
balances in the first place.
All al-Qaida members caught in the United States should
be investigated and dealt with. But what about the
innocent people who, because of law enforcement's
mistakes, incompetence or prejudice, end up as
"suspected" terrorists? Once suspected of terrorism,
constitutional protections evaporate, leaving people in fear
and subject to harm.
Hundreds of people with no connection to terrorism have
been detained and deported in secret since 9/11 without
access to counsel. Too many innocents are being caught in
the web.
It was not so long ago that this nation went down a very
slippery slope. Hindsight makes the shameful internment
of Japanese-Americans during World War II and the FBI's
ruthless prosecution of civil rights leaders in the 1960s
and 1970s universally condemned. We must be mindful of
those lessons today.
Thankfully, these concerns are not limited to one side of
the political spectrum. Bipartisan majorities have emerged
that are deeply skeptical of the Justice Department's
power grab during this period of national anxiety.
Some of the loudest voices denouncing the administration
have been powerful Republicans, including columnist
William Safire and former conservative congressmen Dick
Armey of Texas and Bob Barr of Georgia. And Democratic
Rep. Jerrold Nadler of New York termed Patriot II "little
more than the institution of a police state."
President Bush and Mr. Ashcroft have not formally
introduced Patriot II to Congress and the public. But as
they deliberate, perhaps they should heed their own
advice. Don't let the terrorists win. Keep America safe and
free. We like America, and the Constitution, just the way
it is.
Rajeev Goyle is a staff attorney at the American Civil
Liberties Union of Maryland.
Copyright © 2003, The Baltimore Sun
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