The Pros And Cons Of The Patriot Act

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.

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 PATRIOT Act abuses the privacy of American citizens. It has denied the nationals of this nation of a portion of the essential rights that were guaranteed to them in the Constitution. The rights that the PATRIOT Act puts into jeopardy are intrinsic and it is the responsibility to secure our inherent rights. The USA PATRIOT Act is an Act of Congress that was marked into law by President George W. Bush on October 26, 2001. Its title is a ten-letter acronym (USA PATRIOT) that stands for "Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism Act of 2001. After the attacks on the Twin Towers and the Pentagon the United States has created relief controls

     In the aftermath of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks US Congress passed legislation known as the Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism Act of 2001 commonly known as the USA Patriot Act. This paper will attempt to prove that not only is the USA Patriot Act unconstitutional but many of its provisions do nothing at all to protect Americans from the dangers of terrorism.

One common idea many Americans have is that the USA Patriot Act keeps them safe. Even Robert Mueller, the former director of the FBI, believed having such an act in place prior to 9/11 could have prevented the attacks (CBS News). He further explained that having the act in place at the time could have tracked the phone of one of the terrorists that carried out the attacks. He implies here that the information from the act is

The Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism Act (USA PATRIOT Act) is one of the most controversial pieces of legislation to ever pass through the US Senate. Its critics use fear mongering tactics to scare people into opposition of an intrusive police state which they believe is inevitable given the government’s new powers. They consider the Act an assault on civil liberties and an invasion of the privacy of innocent American citizens. Yet the real issue is not that the government now has new powers, it’s that the American people do not trust our intelligence agencies to handle these new powers properly while still respecting their rights.

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

Since the September 11 attacks terrorism attacks the world has been in a constant war with terrorism. Right after these attacks, the Congress rushed to pass rules to strengthen security in the United States while also limiting our freedoms as a US citizen. On October 23, 2001, the Patriot Act was proposed. This act allows law enforcement officials to obtain a search warrant anywhere a terrorist-related activity occurred, it Prohibits the harboring of terrorists, and it punishes terrorist acts in the United States and around the world. On October 25, 2001, the Act was passed by the Senate by 98 to 1. The one vote that was in opposition to the act was Senator Russell Feingold. He and other opponents of the law have criticized its detentions of immigrants, and how the law allows enforcement officers to search a home or business without the owner's consent or knowledge. Although he was outnumbered 98 to 1 he still made an extensive impact on the outcome of the Patriot

The Patriot Act is an important document for the United States Government and Americans. Losing rights in order to secure a safer "America" in my book is worth the loss of some rights. Now when I say loss of some rights, I am not talking about eliminating the Amendments of the United States. Matter of fact, Washington State has one of the greatest protections against search and seizure then any other US State, even greater then the Federal Government. There has to be some order for it to work. I read over the congress USA PATRIOT ACT to become a little more familiar with what was passed. In all it seems that the Patriot Act does work more in our favor when it comes to investigating possible terrorism domestic or international.

The terrorist attack on September 11th by the Islamic group al-Qaeda prompt President Bush on October 26, 2011, to sign the Patriot Act into law with the help of Congress. This act was created to take measures to protect the citizens, by bringing in more troops and military units. Giving law enforcement more power to prevent and detect terrorism. The power to use surveillance, wiretaps and conduct investigations. This law still has citizens concern with their civil liberties and data privacy.

13 days after the attacks of 9/11 the government implemented the Patriot Act, in which instituted "a new crime called ‘domestic terrorism,’ defined as ‘acts dangerous to human life that are a violation of the criminal laws of the United States,’ when the actor’s intent is to ‘influence the policy of a government by intimidation of coercion" (Benson et al., 3). How did the USA Patriot act come to be present in our system today? To relieve the government's concerns and cool the widespread public anxiety, the Patriot Act was presented to Congress bypresident George W. Bush in an extensive 342 page document. Three days after the presentaion , it was passed through congress onOctober 26, 2001 - practically unanimous as the House of Representatives passed it 357-66 and the Senate a staggering 98-1 (1). Albeit "the USA Patriot Act was approved by Congress and the president without the normal procedural review processes of intensive debateand hearings" in 2001, it was later re-passed in 2005 with more evident thought (Zusman and Helfand 1). In 2005 Congress took ninemonths to repass it, doing so on March 9, 2006 (Benson et al.,

Making the world a safe place is a statement everyone likes to hear. The Patriot Act, which was made on September 12, 2001, shortly after the 9/11 terrorist attack made on the twin towers. This act was made to keep the people of America safe from terrorists, but also keeps track of all of the files. In today's discussions, people argue whether or not this act should still be used. The pro side of the story is to keep people safe and protects them from terrorist attacks, and other criminal gestures. The con side of the story is that it invades people privacy and is an unfair advantage that the government have towards people lives.

To reiterate, after the passage of the Act, numerous academics and legal specialists have attempted to substantiate whether or not the Act should remain in effect today. Essentially, the arguments addressed can be categorized into two predominant schools of thoughts. One on hand, as a I had briefly mentioned, some scholars believe that the Patriot Act ought to be excluded from the U.S. domestic set of security regulations, because it allows the government to disregard the basic rights of citizens and noncitizens that are secured by the U.S. Bill of Rights somewhat without a probable cause. Further, it legalizes a series of other unconstitutional provisions that could possibly lead the U.S. to a dictatorship. The other side of the debate defends

The USA PATRIOT Act stands for "Uniting and Reinforcing America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Block Terrorism." This action came into effect 45 days after more than 3,000 American lives were lost to a 9/11 terrorist attack

Terrorism in the world is getting worse by the day, we keep getting more threats to our country. Finally our leaders found an act that allows more security for our country. This act helps us control terrorism in our country. The USA Patriot Act involves the war on terrorism and the threats they make against us. With this act, law enforcement can search houses and any place that is suspected of terrorist acts.