The Patriot Act: The Right To Privacy

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.

The United States of America is undoubtedly one of the world’s largest and most powerful nations. However, it has been facing the problem of terrorism for many decades, most notably after the tragic events of September 11th. The Patriot Act was passed shortly after these events in response to the acts of terrorism witnessed by the whole nation. At the time, it seemed rational and logical to allow this bill to pass, due to the extreme anger of American citizens, and the willingness to fight against terrorism. However, certain breaches of privacy came with the introduction of the Patriot Act. We as Americans want to feel protected from the threats of terrorism, however, we are not willing to give up certain privacies and liberties in order for that to happen, even when put to a vote.

After the attacks on September 11th of 2001, George W. Bush and his administration, along with Congress, agreed that national security needed more power within the executive branch. Our government leaders then rushed the legislative and review process and got the USA Patriot Act signed to law on October 26th of 2001 by President George W. Bush. The USA Patriot Act is an acronym that stands for Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism. It was passed to prevent future threats and acts of terrorism in the United States and to strengthen our national defense against terrorism. Since this act came into effect, lawmakers and citizens have heavily criticized it. The USA Patriot Act has been said to contradict civil liberties and be a violation of Constitutional rights, but its most controversial sections have continued to be extended

Many people feel that the Patriot Act overreaches its original intent by allowing the government to spy on its own citizens, essentially violating American’s civil liberties, most notably our right to privacy granted by our Fourth Amendment in the Bill of Rights, as well as our right to due process granted by the Fifth Amendment in the Bill of Rights.

In addition to the invasion of privacy and spying on millions of Americans without their knowledge, The Patriot Act is also in violation of the Fourth Amendment in multiple ways.

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

American citizens favor their civil liberties granted by the law and the Constitution. Civil liberties are freedoms of a citizen granted by the U.S. Constitution without arbitrary government abridgement. They are important because those freedoms protect the people from an oppressive government and other oppressive citizens. These rights include the freedom of assembly, petition, press, religion, speech and civil rights. The rights separate the United States from a tyrannical government. The preservation of civil rights is a keystone of democracy. This allows the United States to be unique from other nations throughout the test of time. Americans also take pride in their freedoms as the Founding Fathers would have wanted them to. The Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism Act of 2001 or also known as the Patriot Act, however, is hampering on American freedoms, pride and the Bill of Rights. The Act was passed right after the September 11 terror attacks as a way to prevent further terrorist attacks in the United States. Although security is a necessary factor in an American’s life, security should not be prioritized over personal freedom. The Patriot Act should be amended because part of the act is unconstitutional, is an attack on Americans’ civil liberties and supports the vilification of Muslim Americans.

The Patriot Act was passed to additionally keep any terrorist invasion by gathering all data that could prompt the aversion of these attacks. It also expands the government’s reconnaissance. It increases the government’s capacity to take a gander at records on an individual's movement being held by outsiders. It extends the government’s ability to hunt private property without notice to the proprietor. Intelligence searches. It grows a limited exemption to the Fourth Amendment that had been made for the accumulation of foreign intelligence information. It extends another Fourth Amendment exemption for seeing that gathers addressing data about the starting point and goal of interchanges, instead of the substance.

Often our nation sees as a symbol of freedom to the world; however, since the events of 9/11 the U.S congress signed into law the U.S Patriot Act. This legislation extends the power of the government by strengthening its oversight authority over the nation, claiming protection of the national security against potential foreign threats. As an American citizen, I agree with some of the terms and measures adopted under the Patriot Act in which the government needs to intercept, obstruct, and monitor terrorism actions keeping us safe from potential attacks without violating any of our civil rights. However, the act fails to secure American liberties, facilitating and encourages the government to become authoritarian with the pretext idea of national security purpose, exposing millions of Americans lives to serious and potential abuses of corruptions, fraud and discrimination by taking away our freedoms and liberty rights guarantee by the U.S Constitution, assuming that giving politicians authoritarian powers will make America a safer place to live. On the Other hand as a Law abiding citizen I’m not willing to sacrifice and been taking away my constitutional rights in exchange for national security purpose, because if we continue like that, we would be further away from an ideal democracy society, losing confidence and support to our government system that eliminates the American ideal of check and balance power for their own ends.

The attacks on the United States of America on September 11th, 2001 fundamentally changed the way the government and its citizens viewed freedom and liberty. With the subsequent enactment of the USA PATRIOT Act, security became the government’s top priority. (The USA PATRIOT Act is an acronym which stands for Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism.) Congress, eager to put a law on the books to prevent another attack, fast tracked the bill through both houses in six weeks. It passed by a near unanimous vote, with the majority of dissent coming from Democrats. A highly contentious and debated law, the USA PATRIOT Act infringes on Natural Law and the American citizen’s Civil Liberties. Also it violates the spirit and letter of the United States Constitution, particularly the Bill of Rights. Many amendments in the Constitution are at a direct contrast with the law’s many broadly worded sections, specifically the First Amendment’s right to free speech and freedom of assembly, and the Fourth Amendment’s guard against unwarranted and illegal search and seizure.

September 11, 2001 was one of the worst days in U.S. history. Many Muslim men hijacked planes and crashed them into the world trade center buildings, and the pentagon killing almost 3,000 innocent people. After this incident, every Muslim was seen as a terrorist so the U.S government enacted the patriot act, which gave more power to the federal law-enforcement and intelligence gathering in suspected terrorist crimes. The patriot act gives the government power to do whatever they want for “national security” and take away the civilians civil rights. The government can tap into cell phones and listen in on conversations or even watch what people are searching on the internet. Since the passing of the patriot act racial profiling has grown in the past years especially towards Muslims. The patriot act may have seemed like a good idea at the time but in reality it just gives the government a way to strip citizens of their rights, is unconstitutional, and it needs to be removed.

Constant controversy have aggravated several Americans since the Patriot Act goes slightly against the fourth amendment. The fourth amendment is the right of people to be secure in their homes, papers, and effect, against unreasonable search and seizures, shall not be violated, and no warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized (Fourth Amendment - U.S. Constitution - FindLaw, n.d.). The Patriot Act was implemented for the creation of new laws and for the amendments of current ones for the intent of more efficient terrorism prevention and investigation. The act made changes to the already present amendments, which entitled privacy to American citizens, including the following: wiretap statute, electronic communications privacy act, computer fraud and abuse act, foreign intelligence surveillance act, family education rights and privacy act, pen register and trap and trace statute, money laundering act, immigration and nationality act, money laundering control act, bank secrecy act, right to financial privacy act, and fair credit reporting act (Department of Government and Justice Studies, n.d.). As a result, the Patriot Act contains all of the same checks and balances that the American public has become accustomed to seeing in their government testimonies (List of Pros and Cons of The Patriot Act,

The USA PATRIOT Act violated many American civil rights and carried out many unnecessary searches of innocent Americans. It sacrifices civil liberties for government power.

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 Patriot Act violates civil liberties by enabling unwarranted wire tapping leading to abuse by authorities, under the pretense of curbing terrorism. Although it's unknown how far reaching the abuse really goes, information concerning the unconstitutional violation of civil rights by the NSA, DEA and other security administrations is constantly being revealed by the media. Legal experts have suggested that the USA PATRIOT Act erodes 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