The USA Patriot Act

As a result of the terrorist attacks in the US on September 11, 2001 when the planes slammed into the World Trade Center and damaged the Pentagon, the US declared and waged a war on “terror”. Thus, following the confinement of the USA Patriot Act, a statute enacted by the United States Government and signed into law by President George W. Bush on October 26, 2001. Denoted at times as “Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism Act of 200” (US Congress). The Act increases the ability of law enforcement agencies to search telephone, e-mail communications, medical, financial, and other records; eases restrictions on foreign intelligence gathering within the United States; expands…show more content…
interests and safety, restrictions are often placed on basic democratic freedoms and civil liberties. A delicate balance has to be struck in times of crisis. American lives have to be protected, but essential Constitutional freedoms and guarantees must also be maintained (Mayeux). Citizenship has its responsibilities as well as its privileges, and in time of war the burden is always heavier. Obligatory exclusion of large groups of citizens from their homes, except under circumstances of horrible emergency and threat, is inconsistent with our basic governmental institutions. But when under conditions of modern warfare our shores are threatened by hostile forces, the power to protect must be adequate with the threatened danger. The current war on terrorism has generated legislation and concern about this delicate, frail balance of protection and safety vs. restraint and restriction. With the War on Terror, the Fourth Amendment has been compromised and seen habeas corpus once again suspended (Mayeux). The end of habeas corpus is itself an abandonment of a nearly millennium-long tradition in the Common Law. It was not terrorists who set the clock back to pre-Enlightenment times for American liberty, it was the warfare…show more content…
USA Patriot Act: Pros and Cons. United State of America, New York. 2010. Print
Mayeux, E Peter. The USA Patriot Act and Civil Liberty Restrictions: Historical Prospective 2006. Print
Wilson, Q. James. American Government: Brief Version 10th Edition 2012. Custom edition for Southwestern College. “Chapter 3” pp. 55-58. United States of America. Print
Websites
Sinclair, Daniel. “U.S. Congress on Patriot Act”: Web. February 6, 2006 http://www.historycommons.org/
Boyer, Dave. “Patriot Act and the Constitution”: Web. September 9, 2002 http://www.thewahingtontimes.com/ US Congress: Internet Archive. 10/2/2001; web. http://www.cnn.com/
Bluegrass Federal Credit Union; web. May 13, 2009 http://www.bluegrassfederalcreditunion.com/
Web Dictionary; web. January 2012 http://www.webdictionary.com/