Patriot Act Pros And Cons

The USA Patriot Act grants government agencies powers in terrorism investigations that it already uses in non-terrorist crimes. Several law abiding citizens have been approached, questioned, and interrogated without probable cause of any criminal activity, basically for engaging in political speech protected by the constitution (Bailie, 2012). The Act freely eliminates privacy rights for individual Americans, it creates more secrecy for government activities, which make it extremely difficult to know about actions the Government are taking.

After the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center on September 11th, 2001 the United States became a very different place. This drastic change was caused by the initial emotional reactions that American citizens, as well as government leaders had towards the tragic event. The government, in an effort to assure that these events never happen again passed the USA PATRIOT Act, which is an acronym that stands for the Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism Act. The major goal of this act is to combat terrorism by giving the government more leeway in what areas they are allowed to use their surveillance tools and also to what circumstances these tools can be used. The major issue that arise with this act are the fact that many of the act can be seen as unconstitutional.

With good intentions, the Patriot Act allows the government to pry into Americans' lives through computer and phone records as well as credit and banking history (Source 5). This oversteps the U.S. Constitution as the First and Fourth Amendment were created to give citizens freedom and the right to deny search and seizure

The terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 devastated the United States people. As they mourned over the deaths caused by the destruction of the World Trade Center in New York City, Americans began looking for a way to prevent anything like this from happening again. Consequently, an act known as the USA PATRIOT act was passed by Congress. This act opened up many doors previously closed to law enforcement and intelligence agencies. With these new opportunities available to them, they have the capability to obtain information about specific individuals believed to be involved in terrorist activities and organizations. Very beneficial to the United States, the Patriot Act provides easier access for different government law enforcement agencies to share information, allows government agencies investigative tools that non-terrorist crimes already use, and helps to dismantle the terrorist financial network. Although many people claim that the Patriot Act violates the United States Constitution and the freedoms of the American people, it contains many elaborate safeguards to fight against such abuse.

The Patriot Act was established after the tragedy of September, 11, 2001 in a moment of weakness. It gave unprecedented and unnecessary powers to intelligence agencies under the wide umbrella of national security. The Patriot Act has used an “us vs them” mentality as well as pro-American propaganda to accomplish its goals. This new authority of the intelligence agencies has gone too far, is unjustified, unconstitutional, and infringes on the privacy of the American people, as well as others in the world. The Patriot Act should be weakened in order to preserve the rights of the American people and to reaffirm to the world that the U.S will not tolerate violations of human rights.

The position held by those who disagree with my view would believe that the Patriot Act is a complete and total violation of Americans rights. They would believe that this is a violation of the fourth, fifth, sixth, and eighth amendments. The act allows the government to get around the Fourth Amendment by allowing them to track who visits which website, and read private emails. (Johnson) Specifically, critics say that this act makes it a lot easier for the federal government to many things, such as obtain information about people, and eavesdrop on telephone conversations. Soon after the Patriot Act was accepted, many people voiced their differing opinions of it. People in civil liberties groups believed that the act took too much freedom away from the people. They believed it violated the 4th, 5th, 6th, and 8th amendments. The 4th amendment states that searches and seizures can only take place

S.N. Herman in his article The US PATRIOT ACT and the Submajoritarian Fourth Amendment that was published in the Harvard Civil Rights-Civil Liberties Law Review in 2006 deals completely around violations of the US Patriot Act in regards to the Fourth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. It brings forth the facts that support that we as American citizens have allowed the government to chip away at our rights to be free from unreasonable searches and

The Fourth Amendment gives people the right to be secure in their persons, house, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizure. Warrants shall only be issued with probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation. Furthermore, the place to be searched should be described, and the person or things to be seized. After 9/11 America’s view on terrorism changed and so did its approach to intelligence gathering. Just weeks after 9/11 the USA PATRIOT Act of 2001 was passed. Eventually the USA PATRIOT Act expired and was replaced with the USA FREEDOM Act. These Acts generated a tremendous amount of controversy, however I believe it does not violate a person’s Fourth Amendment rights.

The US Patriot Act was a very controversial act that was created after the events of September 11, 2011. Although many sanctions under the US Patriot Act grossly violated the fourth amendment in several ways, congress felt it was necessary to protect the nation. Sections that violated the fourth amendment are: the sneak and peek warrants included in section 213, roving/warrantless wiretapping of section 206, and finally trap and trace searches of section 214. These are just a few of the many violations I can account for. The Fourth Amendment is part of the Bill of Rights that was added to the Constitution in 1791. It protects people from unlawful searches and seizures. This means that the police can't search you or your house without a warrant or probable cause. Are we truly willing to override the Constitution in the name of national security?

Like most Americans, I have read in the news recently about the different intelligence agencies of our government, federal and local, gathering and storing personal information on its citizens under the direction of the Patriot Act. Some would consider the information gathered about our personal lives overly intrusive, including violations of our constitutional rights while others may not. However, I think most Americans will agree that the government needs to be very careful in how they interpret the amended Patriot Act. It should be interpreted in such a way that it does not violate the American people’s constitutional rights. If the laws do then they should be overturned. Today many

The Patriot Act, in my opinion, is violating the Fourth Amendment of the Constitution (even though it is an exception to it) because it invades our privacy by allowing the government to place wide ranging wiretaps on us without even identifying the target or locations of target individuals who have no connection to terrorist organizations and collect business records of all Americans without any connection to terrorists. Under the act, any data can be collected by the government without a warrant. They have access to the phone calls we make, the inbound and outbound internet traffic we navigate, and even the emails we receive/send in a daily basis. Basically, under this act, none of the electronic information that we consider private is untouchable

The Patriot Act was signed into law on October 26, 2001 by President George W. Bush. The act expanded the surveillance capability of both domestic law enforcement and international intelligence agencies. When this law was passed it was under the assumption “to deter and punish terrorist acts in the United States and around the world, to enhance law enforcement investigatory tools, and for other purposes” (The USA Patriot). The Patriot Act has given the government the power to spy on the average American through monitoring phone records and calls, gaining banking and credit information, and even track a person’s internet activity. This is an unbelievable amount of power intelligence agencies wield all under the umbrella of national security. This power has gone too far, is unjustified, unconstitutional, and infringes on the privacy of the

The Patriot Act, an act passed by Congress in 2001 that addressed the topic of privacy in terrorist or radical situations, is controversial in today's society. Although it helps with protection against terroristic events, The Patriot Act is not fair, nor is it constitutional, because it allows the government to intrude on citizens' privacy, it gives governmental individuals too much power, and because the act is invasive to the 4th amendment right. To further describe key points in the act, it states that it allows investigators to use the tools that were already available to investigate organized crime and drug trafficking, and it allows law enforcement officials to obtain a search warrant anywhere a terrorist-related activity occurred.

Legal experts have suggested that the USA Patriot Act weakens elements of several of the Bill of Rights to the US Constitution. This includes the First Amendment (freedom of speech and assembly), Fourth Amendment (freedom from unreasonable search and seizure), Fifth Amendment (right to due process of law), Sixth Amendment (right to speedy, public, and fair trials, right to confront accusers, and right to a criminal defense), and Eighth Amendment (freedom from excessive and cruel & unusual punishment). The Patriot Act has faced ongoing legal challenges by the American Civil Liberties Union.

The Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism Act, better known as the USA PATRIOT Act, or simply the PATRIOT Act was introduced on October 24, 2001, only 45 days after the devastating terrorists attacks of 9/11. It passed nearly unanimously, with only one person total in both the House or Representatives and the Senate voting against it. This law has many aspects, but perhaps the most controversial is the authorization of surveillance procedures, and the legitimacy of these provisions in regards to the Fourth Amendment of the United States Constitution. The following is an examination of the moral and homeland security implications this Act has on the American people and the