Patriot Act Compromise Not Satisfactory For ACLU

Posted on February 10, 2006

Efforts to extend the USA Patriot Act cleared a major hurdle yesterday when the White House and key senators agreed to revisions that are virtually certain to secure Senate passage and likely to win House approval, congressional leaders said.

Senator Harry Reid, who once bragged at how the Democrats “killed the Patriot Act”, is now changing his tune calling the compromise “a step in the right direction.” Democrats will now have to make a decision on whether to vote for the four year extension, or make yet another obstructionist grandstand with a filibuster. Most bets are that this will not happen, which will greatly aggrevate their far-left base and special interest groups like the ACLU.

Andy McCarthy at The Corner thinks the compromise is a good one.

The library compromise is more irritating. According to the AP, libraries would be immune from requests for information unless they are “electronic service providers.” Assuming this means that infomation may still be sought from any library that makes Internet and email services available to patrons, the compromise is probably not that big a deal, since many (perhaps most) libraries today do provide those services, and a suspect’s Internet or email use is what is most likely to be of interest to investigators.

Still, it’s a silly place to draw the line. There is no Fourth Amendment interest implicated by library records of any kind; there is no reason to think the government abuses its authority to seek library records (leaving the Patriot Act aside, prosecutors have been able to get them by simple grand jury subpoena for decades); and it is easy to imagine many scenarios in which the fact that a terrorst suspect was in a library or checked out a particular book might be highly relevant to the ability of investigators to identify him, to locate him, to connect him to other suspects, or otherwise to get insight into what he is up to. It makes no sense to turn a library into a safe harbor or to say to investigators: you can look at his Internet use but what he took from the bookshelves is none of your business.

But even though this limitation is unnecessary, it is not important enough to fight over if giving in means getting the rest of the Patriot Act reauthorized. I’d swallow hard and take the deal.

While there are many examples of why obtaining internet records from Public Libraries has been beneficial in the war on terror, the ACLU will not be happy until the Patriot Act is stripped down to complete ineffectiveness.

The American Civil Liberties Union today expressed disappointment at the announcement of a deal between the White House and key lawmakers to reauthorize the Patriot Act without the most needed changes to protect freedom and privacy. Just last week, the act was extended until March 10, 2006 to allow more time for debate and negotiations.

“Serious problems remain in the Patriot Act that require serious reforms,” said Caroline Fredrickson, Director of the ACLU Washington Legislative Office. “Unfortunately, the proposed changes to the reauthorization bill do not correct the secret record search powers and do not require that there be any individualized suspicion of wrongdoing by Americans before their financial, medical, library or other records can be searched. Common sense reforms could have required that records sought be connected to a suspected terrorist or terrorist organization. We will continue to press for these and other needed reforms to protect American freedoms.”

“Regardless of what happens with this agreement, Congress can, and must fix the Patriot Act to better protect the privacy and freedom of ordinary Americans,” Fredrickson added. “At the same time, until the Bush administration stops the illegal NSA program to spy on Americans and stops ignoring the rule of law, any reforms to the Patriot Act could be ignored under the extreme philosophy of power embraced by this president. No matter the result of the Patriot Act, we hope all senators involved in these negotiations will resist pressure from the administration. Congress must restore the rule of law and insist that innocent Americans’ rights be protected against the overreaching of the White House. We can, and must, be both safe and free.”

Even though it was shown yesterday how effective Bush’s programs have been to thwart terrorist plots, the far left are still in la la land. Cheney is correct that these should be election issues, they are issues the moonbats are sure to lose on.

Others: NY Times

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4 Responses to “Patriot Act Compromise Not Satisfactory For ACLU”

GitmoGourmet on February 10th, 2006 12:14 pm

“Even though it was shown yesterday how effective Bush’s programs have been to thwart terrorist plots,”
RRrright..
http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB116/index.htm
Middle Class Guy on February 10th, 2006 12:46 pm

If public libraries are public and publically funded, than their records would be public records, no? Just curious.
Matt on February 10th, 2006 11:04 pm

The ACLU continues toward their goal of Communism. They would be happy if the US were hit again. That would help them along with MoveOn, etc, to try to impeach Bush because he wasn’t “connecting the dots.” The ACLU would be the group who wouldn’t let the government connect the dots.
Kerwin on February 11th, 2006 3:32 am

True legislation is about compromise. Only judicial legislation does not compromise and the ACLU is used to having its way with it.