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WHY THE Broward Bill of Rights Defense Coalition OPPOSES THE U.S.A. PATRIOT ACT

The U.S.A. Patriot Act has antecedents dating back to the earliest days of the Republic.  The Alien and Sedition Acts of 1798, criminal restrictions on speech in World War I, the internment of Japanese-Americans in World War II, and the blacklists and domestic spying of the Cold War are all instances in which the government was granted (or assumed) summary powers in a time of national crisis ? to the inevitable regret of later generations.  Each of these episodes was eventually seen as an overreaction to frightening circumstances.  It was also recognized that the government already had ample powers to combat the threats at hand ? that the new tools were unnecessary at best and, at worst, dangerous.

Among the U.S.A. Patriot Act's most disturbing provisions are measures that:

  • Allow for the indefinite detention of non-citizens, who are not terrorists, on minor visa violations if they cannot be deported because they are stateless or their country of origin refuses to accept them. 
  • Minimize judicial supervision of federal telephone and Internet surveillance by law enforcement despite the fact that under pre-existing law judges have rejected only three federal or state criminal wiretap requests in the last decade.
  • Expand the ability of the government to conduct secret searches.  Normally a person is notified when law enforcement is about to conduct a search, but the new law allows delayed notification in many kinds of cases.
  • Permit the sharing of sensitive information in criminal cases with intelligence agencies and with no judicial review, effectively putting the CIA back in the business of spying on Americans.
  • Give the Attorney General and the Secretary of State the power to designate domestic groups as terrorist organizations and deport any non-citizen who belongs to them.
  • Grant the FBI broad access to sensitive business records about individuals without having to show evidence of a crime, and to student records based on a mere certification that the records are relevant to an investigation.
  • Provide an overly broad definition of "terrorism."  Under the new definition, acts of simple civil disobedience could cause groups like People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) to become targets of "terror" investigations.

In addition to the unnecessary and dangerous powers granted the government under the U.S.A. Patriot Act, the Bush White House and Ashcroft Justice Department have also assumed the summary power to:

  • Violate attorney-client privilege by monitoring communications between those detained by the Justice Department and their lawyers.
  • Establish military tribunals to try suspected terrorists that won't be required to follow the same principles of law and evidence required in civilian courts.
  • Silence dissent by equating criticism with aid to terrorists, declaring that public debate would "erode our national unity ? diminish our resolve ? give ammunition to America's enemies, and pause to America's friends."
  • Allow the FBI to spy on Americans in their churches, on the Internet, in bookstores, and in libraries ? even if there is no evidence a crime might be committed.  They can even charge librarians with a crime if they so much as inform their patrons that the government has been investigating their reading habits.

2003 Press Releases