I need help with my Patriot Act essay!?

Question

Please tell me how to better this. It has to be another minute longer. Topic: How Does the Patriot Act Vioate the Constitution?


Here it is:



The U.S. Constitution took effect on March 4th, 1789. It was created to “establish justice, insure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty.” It also set up a system of checks and balances, to make sure that no branch of government became too powerful. The last thing the United States wanted to become was the oppressive government they had only just recently separated themselves from. To further guarantee the freedoms of the American people, a block of twelve amendments was proposed, and ten were ratified. Passed in 1791, these amendments make up the United States Bill of Rights. They insure basic freedoms such as the freedom of speech, press, and religion. Others lay down the basis of search and seizure, privacy, and the due process of law. The constitution( with the addition of twenty-seven amendments) guaranteed the rights of the American people for over 200 years.
But in the morning hours of September eleventh, 2001, terrorists hijacked four planes. One crashed in a field in Pennsylvania, another into the pentagon, and the remaining two into the world trade centers. In response, President Bush declared a war on terrorism, including Al-Qaeda, and Osama Bin-Ladin. In march 2003 the U.S. invaded Iraq, stating that they had weapons of mass destruction, and ties to Al-Qaeda. On December 13th, 2003, Saddam was arrested for mass murder. Recently he has been convicted and sentenced to death by hanging.
In addition to our foreign war, several bills were passed to aid in the war against terrorism. In 2002, Congress passed and the president signed the bill forming the department of homeland security, the largest change in the contemporary U.S. government. The cabinet department’s responsibility is to keep the American people safe from both terrorist attacks and natural disasters. The U.S. also passed the P.A.T.R.I.O.T. Act, and invoked the help of the National Security Agency. Since that time, the U.S. has walked a very fine line between protecting our liberties, and disregarding them. The Constitution was established to protect us, and yet acts such as the patriot act are getting around “the supreme law of the land” Please know, this is my opinion, but unfortunately, it isn’t the view of the court system.
The P.A.T.R.I.O.T. act encroaches upon the liberties set down for us in the constitution in many ways, but let’s start sequentially, shall we? The act violates the fourth amendment. The Fourth Amendment to the Constitution reads: "The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches 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 of things to be seized." The Patriot Act, now passed and the law of the land, has revoked the necessity for probable cause, and now allows the police, just so long as you are suspected of being a terrorist, to enter and search your house — and not even have to tell you about it. Yes, nicknamed sneak and peak, the U.S. Patriot Act allows for delay of a notification of a warrant. A warrant which can now be issued without even probable cause.
The U.S. also violates the fourth amendment using the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance act, which can gather information without a warrant for foreign interest. The FISA can order a wire-tap. We’re now gathering information for ourselves alone, not a foreign country, that is illegal. In addition to the violation of the amendment, it destroys a major aspect of their Constitution, checks and balances. Without judicial oversight in these matters, the scales are thrown way off.
Believe it or not, the act also violates the fifth amendment! It violates the Fifth Amendment by allowing for indefinite incarceration without trial for those deemed by the Attorney General to be threats to national security. The Fifth Amendment guarantees that no person shall be deprived of life, liberty or property without due process of law, and the P.A.T.R.I.O.T. Act does away with due process. It provides for indefinite incarceration, and delay of a lawyer, if they see one at all! Basically, it allows suspected terrorists to be shipped away to some cell in Guantanamo Bay without even a trial! So obviously, that shatters the sixth amendment as well, which provides for a “speedy and public trial”.
What about the eighth amendment? It states that there should not be any cruel or unusual punishments. I’ll leave this one to you, do you call getting shipped to some dirty cell in Guantanamo without a lawyers consult, a trial, or even a conviction cruel and unusual?
And of course, it is misused. A North Carolina man was charged with creating chemical weapons after he was busted for running a meth lab. Instead of six months in jail, he now faces twelve years. The U.S. also used section 806 to seize 4.5 million dollars from a telemarketing company that scammed the elderly into thinking they had won the Canadian lottery, as long as they paid thousands in back income taxes. The section allows the government to freeze or seize the assets of any group or individual who are funding terrorist organizations. I mean, sure, they were being mean to old people, but a terrorist organization they were not. It was up to the Canadian government to shut them down. We had no right to dismantle the group, let alone seize their assets! And just months after the passing of the act, the justice department was teaching seminars on how to extend the wire-tapping provisions to include non-terrorism cases. It has also been confirmed by the president that the NSA tapped phones without a warrant, or FISA order. Not only did they do this, but President Bush, knew completely about it! To me, that sounds just a tad illegal!
It is comforting to know however some parts of the act have been ruled unconstitutional by the courts. On September 29, 2004, U.S. District Judge Victor Marrero struck down Section 505—which allowed the government to issue "National Security Letters" to obtain sensitive customer records from Internet service providers and other businesses without judicial oversight. The section is very broad in its definition of business records. These include phone records, Internet records, and library records. Not only must the service providers or business owners furbish the government with our private records, but they aren’t allowed to tell us that they gave them away. If they do, they can be charged as an accessory. Not only does this section violate the first and fourth amendment, it throws off the marvelous American system of checks and balances. A judge is supposed to be the only one who can issue a subpoena, but not anymore. This section completely cut out the judicial system. At least the system of checks and balances allowed the courts to overrule this section and declare it unconstitutional.
I call for a return to the U.S. Constitution. While some may say it needs to change with the times, it hardly has in the past 200 years. It keeps our government restrained. If we continue down this path, who knows how long it will be until warrants are abolished all together, or the due process of law is ignored completely. I say that we are walking down that road today, and we must turn around to preserve our liberty. And although the U.S. uses things like the patriot act and the NSA to prevent terrorism, they also encroach upon the freedoms of the American people. The very freedoms they say that they are trying to protect. When looking at some of the obvious breaches of the Constitution, one must wonder; what is the bigger threat to our freedom; the tyranny of foreign governments such as Iraq and North Korea, or the very hypocritical government which utilizes the Constitution, but has no problem getting around it should the need arise.

Please try as best you can to do another amendment. But any other breach of the Constitution will be fine!!

Answer 1

You are presenting your opinions as if they were fact. This is known as intellectual dishonesty. (And if your teacher lets you get away with it - you need to go to a better quality school.)

Answer 2

Patriot Act Essay

Answer 3

This Site Might Help You.

RE:
I need help with my Patriot Act essay!?
Please tell me how to better this. It has to be another minute longer. Topic: How Does the Patriot Act Vioate the Constitution?


Here it is:



The U.S. Constitution took effect on March 4th, 1789. It was created to “establish justice, insure domestic tranquility, provide for the common...

Answer 4

My thoughts are that it is imbalanced, it only argues the wrongs of these laws, I am a liberal and agree with all of it, but in the interest of writing a good paper, it needs to give the other sides reasons for doing so, then disputing it with an idea.

Answer 5

I would add to the end something along the lines of :

" Benjamin Franklin wrote:" Those who give up liberty for security deserve neither." Is this what the American people want? How did we become so apathetic? Have we become so complacent with our lives, with our very freedom that we would give it up, would give in to, our fears? If this is true, then the terrorists have already won.

Answer 6

Look for procedural flaws in the passing of the Act. Check out what was tacked on as pork, and scrutinize the so-called opposition positions.

Answer 7

The Patriot Act doesn't violate anything.
Terrorists have no rights. Never did, in any country.
The only people to complain about the Patriot Act was terrorist supporters and the Democrats.
The Democrats just did it to get votes. It was for Money and Power.
Now that the Democrats are in Power, they will no longer support the terrorists. (I hope.)
If Democrats don't want to be wiretapped, they can write letters to their terrorist friends, instead of calling them on the phone.