The Un-American Patriot Act: The new USA Patriot Act, enacted in response to the September 11th terrorist attacks, could pose more of a threat to personal liberty than to terrorists. (On the Home Front).(Brief Article)

Some weeks back -- no one remembers exactly when -- an early draft of the USA Patriot bill containing a section entitled "Suspension of the Writ of Habeas Corpus" showed up at the House Judiciary Committee. Newsweek's Jonathan Alter wrote that the secret draft -- sent by Attorney General John Ashcroft's office -- "dumbfounded" members of Congress who read it. Representative James Sensenbrenner (R-Wis.), chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, promptly struck out the provision.

Although the Justice Department did not return repeated phone calls, Jeff Lungren of the House Judiciary Committee press office assured THE NEW AMERICAN that the draft in question was one of many very early versions of the bill, and that the provision was never given serious consideration. Nevertheless, it is disquieting to know that someone in official Washington might be seriously thinking about curtailing the ancient protection against arbitrary and unjust imprisonment. The final version of the USA Patriot Act (H.R. 3162), which President Bush recently signed into law, does not contemplate such extreme measures, but does expand federal government powers of surveillance, search, and arrest, and sets potentially harmful precedents for future encroachments on personal liberty.

Bombastically named the "Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism Act of 2001," H.R. 3162 is a confusing compilation of broad new surveillance, search, and seizure powers, some of which -- despite Mr. Ashcroft's claims to the contrary -- may be unconstitutional.

The new law greatly expands the legal use of so-called "black-bag" searches. Law-enforcement authorities using this secretive procedure are not required to notify the subject of an investigation until after the search has taken place, if authorities can claim that such a notification might hamper the investigation by allowing the suspect to tip off associates. In the past, suspects were usually notified when law enforcement conducted a search, although occasional exceptions were allowed for searches of electronic data. The new bill, however, has the effect of expanding to any criminal case the authority to conduct secret searches.

"Roving wiretaps" (or PR/TT warrants) allowing investigators to tap multiple phones used by a single suspect, as well as subpoenas for electronic records, may now be carried out nationwide based on a single order. Before H.R. 3162, such warrants could only be executed within the jurisdiction of the judge issuing the order.

Secret searches and warrants with nationwide, extra-jurisdictional force are ...