Patriot Act

Paper Summary:

In this article, the writer notes that the U.S. Patriot Act was passed in haste following the terrorist attacks on the U.S. in 2001. The writer points out that the act was reauthorized and amended in 2006. The writer claims that in its urgency, the United States Congress, fueled by extremely fearful times and the mushrooming nationalism spawned by those fears, appears to have launched its own attack on the United States Constitution in order to provide the legal clout needed to avoid another attack. This paper reviews the literature surrounding the Patriot Act's intrusion into the Constitution. The writer provides a review of the issues and the amendments and looks at how the Patriot Act conflicts with those amendments.

Outline:
Introduction
Bill of Rights, Amendment IV
Background on Fourth Amendment
Generalizations
The Patriot Act Specifics and Generalizations
Senator Russell Feingold: The only U.S. Senator to Vote against the Patriot Act in 2001
Sixth Amendment
Generalizations about the Patriot Act, the Loss of Privacy, the Digital Technology Implications and the Fourth Amendment
Librarians Concerns about the Patriot Act

From the Paper:

"A recent research piece in the Brigham Young University Law Review asserts that, to begin with, there are problems for 21st Century individuals involved in justice and law enforcement. Quite apart from Patriot Act considerations, the Fourth Amendment is tricky. That is because, Minert writes, the language in the Fourth Amendment "is inherently ambiguous." Indeed the Amendment forbids "unreasonable searches and seizures" and it certainly does not outline parameters for how a proper search warrant should be given to law enforcement by courts."

Sample of Sources Used:

• ACLU 2007, 'ACLU Analysis and Recommendations: Justice Department OIG Report on Misuse of National Security Letters', Retrieved May 3, 2007, from http://www.acllu.org/safefree/nationalsecurityletters/28969lgl20070309.html.
• ACLU 2007, 'ACLU Refutes FBI's Claims of 'Unintentional' Patriot Act Abuses, Citing Lies About Authority to Demand Phone Company Records', Retrieved May 3, 2007, from http://www.aclu.org/safefree/nationalsecurityletters/28968prs20070309.html.
• Associated Press, Knight-Ridder Newspapers 2003, 'The Patriot Act in a Nutshell', Concerned Citizens Against the Patriot Act, Retrieved May 4, 2007, from http://www.scn.org/ccapa/pa-meta.html.
• Lichtblau, Eric 2005, Patriot Act's Reach Has Gone Beyond Terrorism, The New York Times, Retrieved from Concerned Citizens Against the Patriot Act http://www.scn.org/ccap/pa-article.html.
• Electronic Frontier Foundation 2003, 'EFF Analysis of 'Patriot II', Retrieved May 4, 2007, from http://www.eff.org/censorship/terrorism_millitias/patriot-act-II-analysis.php.

More papers on Patriot Act:

• Term Paper # 131411 : "The USA Patriot Act"
• Argumentative Essay # 129966 : "The Patriot Act's Impact on American Society"
• Analytical Essay # 134468 : "Opposition and Support for the Patriot Act"
• Analytical Essay # 141693 : "The Patriot Act"

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