The Pros And Cons Of The Patriot Act

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.

In this essay I will discuss the pros and the cons of the Patriot Act, how it affected the lives of US citizens and the world, and whether or not it fits within our democratic form of government. The Patriot Act was a rapidly drafted and approved Act of Congress which was intended to increase the security of US citizens by combatting terrorism. Although granting increased security to an extent, the Act was and still is extremely controversial due to certain parts of the Act limiting the freedoms of American citizens. The Patriot Act enhanced the government’s ability to spy on their own people, and with far fewer restrictions, so many people were and still are disgusted, but many others completely agree with it. Millions of people, billions across the world have a historical trend of being happy to sacrifice their freedoms for increased security. The controversy lies with how more safe are you in comparison to how much of your freedom you have to give up, and that compromise is weighed vastly different for individuals across the world. Did the Patriot Act save enough lives to warrant what it cost, or did it inhibit the lives of too many people to be allowed to continue. The answer will always be disputed and weighing each side will be a very difficult task.

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

In today's society, you are always being watched. The USA PATRIOT Act wants it to stay that way. According to Chris Plante in, "A Short, Crucial Explanation of the USA PATRIOT Act and USA Freedom Act," the USA PATRIOT Act, or the Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism Act of 2001, creates an, "[...] expansion of government power pertaining to domestic surveillance, law enforcement, and border security." (The Verge). The USA PATRIOT Act allows increased spying on citizens in the United States in order to decrease crime and terrorism. The Patriot Act Poll Results via ISideWith tell a story of a lack of understanding about the USA PATRIOT Act, however, with approximately 55% of Americans supporting the act. However, despite the belief it is a well-regulated, necessary act, the USA PATRIOT Act must be repealed due to the abuses the act allows, the violations of citizens' rights, and the inefficiency of the act in preventing crime and terrorism.

The PATRIOT ACT is an act of congress that was introduced on October 26, 2001. The USA Patriot Act was passed by Congress as a response to the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. On October 23, 2001, Republican Rep introduced H.R. 3162 incorporating provisions from a previously sponsored House bill and a Senate bill also introduced earlier in the month. The bill, which removed most of the changes from the Senate version, passed Congress on March 2, 2006, and was signed into law by President George W. Bush on March 9 and 10, 2006. On May 26, 2011, President Barack Obama signed the PATRIOT Sunsets Extension Act of 2011, a four-year extension of three key provisions in the Act roving wiretaps, searches of business records, and conducting surveillance of "lone wolves"—individuals suspected of terrorist-related activities not linked to terrorist groups. Opponents of the law have criticized its authorization of indefinite detentions of immigrants; the permission given law enforcement officers to search a home or business without the owner's or the occupant's consent or knowledge; the expanded use of national security letters, which FBI to search telephone, e-mail, and financial records without a court order; and the expanded access of law enforcement agencies to business records, including library and financial records. The Act allows federal officials greater authority in tracking and intercepting communications, both for purposes of law enforcement and foreign intelligence gathering. It gives the Secretary of the Treasury regulatory powers to combat corruption of US financial institutions for foreign money laundering purposes; it more actively works to close our borders to foreign terrorists and to detain and remove those within our borders; it establishes new crimes, new penalties and new procedural techniques for use against domestic and international terrorists. Since its passage, several legal challenges have been brought against the act, and federal courts have ruled that a number of provisions are unconstitutional. The purpose of the USA PATRIOT Act is to deter and punish terrorist acts in the United States and around the world, to enhance law enforcement investigatory tools, and other purposes, some

Patriot act goes against the constitution and Peter Justice says that “Many of the Patriot Act's provisions violate the Constitution, particularly the First Amendment, which protects free speech, and the Fourth Amendment, which protects against unwarranted search and seizure.” Going against the first and fourth amendment violates the main rights given to us. The divine rights of men is clearly being taken away as a nation. This is unconstitutional because it no longer abides by these rules America has been going by for hundreds of years. It slowly reduces all restrictions of the government. America was created because people were oppressed by the British government and although the nation is not oppressed yet what can we do to stop them when the government wants to start oppressing the nation? ? The Act makes the law enforcement and immigration authorities in detaining and deporting immigrants suspected of terrorism-related acts larger broadening the jurisdictions. It also expands the definition of terrorism to include "domestic terrorism."”(PressTV) Which can be lead them to investigate any probable cause they think would be harmful. Representatives even say that “"It severs the very foundation of the Fourth Amendment to say that government can invade a person's privacy and gather information against them without having a sound basis for suspecting that they've done something wrong," said former Representative Bob Barr (R, Georgia), one of the Patriot Act's

Undoubtedly and clearly the Patriot Act reaches the First Amendment, which is a constitutionally protected right and a maximum definition of our patriotism. As a result it is reflected in what we can say, express or thought making us carefully limit the use and meaning of our words, because free speech terms can be associated against federal law aimed to combat terrorism organizations, accusing the protesters to participate in civil disobedience, even though the First Amendment is a non-violent form of expression opposing a totalitarian regime and characteristics of a state monopoly. The Patriot Act protects and shields the government with absolute authority and power to intimidate or coerce the way how law-abiding American citizens express, or participating in a peaceful and legal protest activities, even when all requirements are fallow and permits in public places such as streets, sidewalks, or any public area. Traditional public forums (protest) should not be an excuse for the government to

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.

The Patriot Act violates the civil liberties guaranteed to Americans by undermining the Fourth Amendment. The Fourth Amendment gives the right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures. The Patriot Act breaches this amendment in multiple ways including “sneak-and-peek” warrants, wiretaps, and bulk data collection. “Sneak-and-peek warrants”, also called delayed-notification warrants, it allows law enforcement to conduct a covert search without informing the suspect of the search until a later time. This infringes the Fourth Amendment, because law enforcement must notify the person that is being searched after the search has taken place. This is unfair to the suspect being searched and goes against the right to secure houses, persons, papers, and effects against unreasonable searches, as stated in the Fourth Amendment. The second way the Patriot Act is in violation the Fourth Amendment and civil

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.

To understand why the Patriot Act is a threat to society and freedom, one must understand the basics. First, the most powerful “Tool” under the Act is Title V or “Removing obstacles to investigating terrorism”. Under Title V, any Special Agent who is in charge of a bureau field office of the FBI can issue a National Security Letter, or a demand for information by the FBI which compels the recipient to release private data in relation to an individual who is only suspected of terrorism; no confirmed relationship. NSLs have existed for some time and previously the power to issue these demands were held only by the Director and Deputy Director of the FBI. Additionally, under the Patriot Act, the scope of the NSLs power was made more broad, permitting all sorts of private data to be gathered in secret, such as phone records, computer access records, credit history and banking records. NSLs require no judicial review or probable cause and even contain a clause which forbids the recipient from ever disclosing the letter’s existence; a “gag order”.

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,