What are some Cons of the Us Patriot Act?

Answer 1

RIGHTS AND FREEDOMS WE HAVE NEEDLESSLYLOST IN THE NAME OF NATIONAL SECURITY

Through the enactment of the USA PATRIOT Act and subsequentexecutive directives and regulations, essential rights and freedomsthat were once guaranteed to all individuals have been substantiallydegraded. Many Americans still do not realize the significance ofwhat we have lost. The resulting expansion of government powers,and the erosion of 1st, 4th, 5th, 6th, 8th and 14thAmendmentrights and freedoms have transformed the United States

.1st AMENDMENT FREEDOM OF SPEECH• The Patriot Act broadly expands the official definition ofterrorism, so that many domestic groups that engage innonviolent civil disobedience could very well find themselveslabeled as terrorists.• The Government may now prosecute librarians or keepersof any other records if they reveal that the governmentrequested information on their clients or members in thecourse of an investigation. It has become a crime for theseindividuals to try to safeguard your privacy or to tell youthat you are under investigation.

1st AMENDMENT FREEDOM OF ASSOCIATION• Government agents may now monitor the First Amendment-protected activities of religious and political institutions, andthen infiltrate these groups with no suspicion of criminalactivity. This is a return to domestic spying on law-abidingreligious and political groups.• You may now be the subject of a government investigationsimply because of the political, activist, or advocacygroups you are involved in, or the statements you makewithin these groups.

1st AMENDMENT RIGHT TO ACCESSGOVERNMENT INFORMATION• A U.S. Department of Justice directive actively encouragesfederal, state, and local officials to resist and/or limit accessto government records through Freedom of Information Act(FOIA) requests.• The Government has conducted immigration hearings insecret behind closed doors.

RIGHTS AND FREEDOMS WE’VE LOST SINCE 9-11

4th AMENDMENT FREEDOM FROM UNREASONABLE SEARCHES &SEIZURES• Law Enforcement authorities may now conduct secret searches and wiretaps in your home or officewithout showing “probable cause.” They need only to claim that intelligence gathering is “a significantpurpose” of their intrusion, even when the primary goal is ordinary law enforcement. They may alsomonitor where and to whom you send and receive e-mail, or where you go on the Internet, recordingevery e-mail address and website you have been in contact with.• Law Enforcement may now demand any personal records held by any source including your doctor,employer, accountant, or library. All they have to do is claim that it is related to an investigation into“terrorism.” The record keepers may not reveal that your records were provided to the government.• Judicial oversight of secret searches has been effectively minimized. The Patriot Act directs judges toconsent to secret searches based only on the Government’s assertion that a “significant” purpose ofan investigation is gathering information related to “terrorism,” as the government defines it.

5th AMENDMENT RIGHT TO DUE PROCESS & FREEDOM FROM BEING HELD WITHOUT CHARGE• Americans can now be jailed without a formal charge & without the right to confront the witnesses orevidence against them. American citizens are now being held in military jails without charge and with-out a clear path of appeal for their indefinite confinement.• Hundreds of Arab, Muslim and South Asian men were rounded up in the Ashcroft raids followingSeptember 11, and held for weeks without charges until all were cleared of terrorism charges

6th AMENDMENT RIGHT TO LEGAL REPRESENTATION• Hundreds of U.S. residents have been detained for months at a time, and denied access to the adviceand advocacy of an attorney. The Government may now monitor conversations between attorneys &clients in federal jails.• The Bush Administration filed papers in court that arguing that an American citizen held in a militaryjail without charge should be denied access to legal counsel because such access would interfere withthe process of his interrogation.

6th AMENDMENT RIGHT TO A SPEEDY AND PUBLIC TRIAL• The U.S. Government may now jail its residents and citizens indefinitely without charge & without a public trial.

8th AMENDMENT FREEDOM FROM CRUEL AND UNUSUAL PUNISHMENTS• The U.S. Government has taken into custody individuals they identify as “material witnesses,” trans-ported them across the country, and held them for months in solitary confinement without charge orcontact with their family.• According to the Justice Department’s own Inspector General, immigrant men rounded up in theAshcroft raids following September 11 and held in the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn, NYwere subjected to a pattern of “physical and verbal abuse.”

14th AMENDMENT RIGHT TO EQUAL PROTECTION• Over 82,000 men from Arab, Muslim and South Asian countries registered with the Governmentunder the Special Registration program

Answer 2

Congress passed the Patriot Act, with very little debate, just 45 days after 9/11, when emotions ran high and lawmakers were under pressure to do something, pass anything, in response. Some Members of Congress had less than an hour to read the extensive changes in the law before voting.

Section 215 (known as the "library records" provision, but which actually applies to "any tangible thing") which does not require any individualized suspicion to get a court order for any record wanted in intelligence investigations;

Section 206 (known as “John Doe” roving wiretaps in intelligence investigations, which allow multiple phones to be tapped) which does not require law enforcement to ascertain that a suspected foreign terrorist is using the phones being listened to by government agents;

President Bush's instigation of warrantless eavesdropping on Americans by the National Security Agency violates the Americans' Fourth Amendment rights and demonstrates a total disregard for the rule of law. Our system of government requires that the power of any president must not be unchecked--Americans demand a strong system of checks and balances. Presidents must faithfully execute the laws passed by Congress and cannot simply ignore those laws.

Answer 3

In my opinion, the absolute worst thing about it is the way it is written.

Most of it is not totally new law, but mere amendments to existing law. It changes words or adds phrases to sentences. Without the US Code in front of you, it is utterly impossible to know what is being changed, or what the effect of the new words and phrases actually mean.

This is common practice for Congress, by the way. This is the same method they use to enact changes to the Tax Code.

The problem with this method is that it makes it unlikely that anyone without a Law Degree could ever hope to understand exactly what it means. In fact, it casts doubt on whether or not Congress as a body understands laws passed in this manner.

Answer 4

The Patriot Act gives a sense of security to those who are expecting such from their elected officials. In reality it only damages the foundation on which America was built. It only encourages the abuse of power, & limits constutional rights to those who are not a threat to national security. Governments often use fear to implement such policies. I'm sure there were good intentions in drafting this act. But the long term effects will hurt us all.