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Patriot Act Case Study

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It is impossible to discuss civil liberties and security without talking about 9/11 and the Patriot Act. The Patriot Act was passed almost immediately after 9/11, hugely expanding intelligence agencies ability to investigate potential terrorism. However, critics of the law say that it infringed on the civil liberties of the innocent and did not guarantee proper oversight of law enforcement agencies in their execution and use of these newfound powers. I agree that as war and violence evolve, so must our methods of preventing them. In this digital age preventing such violence means monitoring information channels and being able to respond to leads rapidly and subtly. That means sometimes forgoing the warrant process when urgency is needed, or only notifying suspects of searches after the …show more content…

Just because Law enforcement agencies need these powers does not mean they need to keep their actions secret from courts and investigators. If permission for invasive and constitution right violating action must be taken, then after that action is taken there must be scrutiny of the necessity and use of those rights-infringing powers. Without oversight, the Patriot Act will be used as a unilateral expansion of power for law enforcement, rather than used as a tool to be used in specific, terrorism related situations. Cases such as Schenck vs. U.S., where Schenck was convicted of violating the Espionage Act is a good example of the issue of civil liberties and security. It is the government’s responsibility to protect the people, even if it one of our own, action must be taken. Justice Holmes’ rule was to use the clear and present danger test. The United States was at war now and by advising people to resist the draft he was hampering security. Though this may have hindered Schenck’s right of speech, the threat to the nation was greater by allowing him to

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The main few being the police officer's safety, the Fourth Amendment, and stop and frisk. Officer Mcfadden testifies that two men, John Terry and Chilton walked and stopped in front of a store, then met up at the corner down the street, and repeated to do so approximately 24 times. This would be considered almost the definition of probable cause, which is reasonable grounds for searching or pressing a charge. McFadden decided under his reasonable cause to interfere and find out what was the situation. Such actions made by the two men convinced the officer he needed to be sure he was safe.

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In the 1950, President Harry S. Truman signed the NSC 68, which called for the increase in defense spending, causing it to nearly triple between 1950 and 1953. The NSC 68 outlined United States’ foreign policy after seeing the spreading influence of the Soviet Union after World War II. At the time, the Soviet Union was introducing communism to governments of other countries in hopes of gaining potential allies in the future. The United States, seeing this as an act against liberty and democracy, wanted to stop the spread communism, leading to a new US policy that lasts throughout the Cold War- Containment. Recently, in October 2001, President George Bush signed the US Patriot Act in response to the act of terrorism in September 11, 2001.

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One group that argues this is the American Civil Liberties Union, which strongly disagrees with the Patriot Act. They have stated that investigations into the Patriot Act, “reveal thousands of violations of law,” (ACLU), while this is simply not true. One controversial piece of the Patriot Act are roving wiretaps. These allow government investigators to follow and put surveillance on certain people, rather than certain devices, so that they may save time and effort. According to Nathan Sales, a law professor at George Mason University, “Federal courts agree that Title III’s roving wiretaps authority is constitutional and… provides strong support for constitutionality,” (Sales).

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In the Robinson case, the Court decided that the 4th amendment includes the full warrantless search of a person and his or her property, within immediate control, at the time of arrest, but without any identifiable danger to police. With this specific decision, the Court places more power on the government as it allows them to obtain such evidence without needing to justify such searches. Similarly, in New York v Belton, the Court concluded that when an individual is subject to a lawful custodial arrest, police are constitutionally permitted to a warrantless search of the passenger compartment of that person’s vehicle if it was in immediate control at the time of arrest (ii). Belton expands the Chimel rule to apply to vehicles by clarifying that an individual has a lesser expectation of privacy of their automobile when they are lawfully

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The USA Patriot Act was signed into law on Oct. 26, 2001, due to the need for cooperation among all levels of security. Police and other department agencies were given powerful authority and encouraged to share information. This is to meet the goal for a safer America in times of turmoil including international affairs. But as the years have passed and as terrorist attacks seem to cease, people have begun to question if there’s too many restrictions on law enforcement were called off.

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Congress approved their right to prevent circumstances that could cause harm during a disturbance of danger, making the famous line “clear and present danger”, a question of proximity and degree, while also exhibiting how one’s speech can cause harm by disregarding the bounds of one’s free speech protection. However, Justice Holmes believed that Schenck did not violate the first amendment. Under various other circumstances Schenck’s actions would have been fine but the court responded with, “The character of every act depends upon the circumstances in which it is done,” acknowledging the first amendment gives people the right to freedom of speech but has certain boundaries about what exactly you are allowed to express. The supreme court believed Schenck was causing harm to the government because the United States was at war. The government saw it as interference and a threat to the status quo of soldiers being drafted and sent to war.

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Not every policy and strategy enacted can be a success, as a country we would never learn or find ways to improve if there were no failures. Since the inception of the Department of Homeland Security, many policies and strategies have been proposed and implemented, some being successful and some needing a revision or another policy enacted to change the failure to potential success. Here we will look at two policies, the USA PATRIOT Act and the Domestic Terrorism Prevention Act of 2022. While these are reactions to events that have occurred, as many policies proposed or implemented, were reactions to events that had occurred. They are also future prevention strategies to help efforts to keep the homeland safe and secure.

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The patriot act has in my opion violated the 4th amendment. It has its advantages as far as terrorizim but to normal citzens this is a complete violation of our privacy. bThe late Benjermin Franklin warned us about trading our liberty for sucureity. This act has taken away a lot of our liberties it gives the government way too much power to invade our privacy. They now have unprecedented power to monitor the phone calls, e-mails, without a warrant.

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The USA PATRIOT Act violated many American civil rights and carried out many unnecessary searches of innocent Americans. It sacrifices civil liberties for government power. The USA PATRIOT Act (Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism Act) was passed shortly after the attacks of September 11, 2001. On September 11, 2001, a group of nineteen terrorists hijacked four passenger flights, under their control, they targeted a variety of US monuments.

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The police used the act to access internet evidence to locate the criminal. Ridge said in the article “The Patriot Act Enhances National Security”, that “By protecting our freedom, civil liberties are enhanced, not diminished”(Ridge). Using the tools to find the criminals is helping to keep the citizens’ liberties safe. Although to do this, the government needed more communication between each branch to complete each

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2097 Words | 9 Pages

The supporters of the NSA surveillance program provide reasons that are blatantly unconstitutional, excusing the program as a small interference for the greater good of the citizen; however, the idea of relinquishing constitutional rights for the sake of national security is in itself a violation of the Fourth Amendment. The motivation for creation of the Fourth Amendment was the use of the ‘excuse’ of providing national security by suppressing and harassing citizens. The Constitution is an unconditional document; therefore, the NSA surveillance program is not justifiable through ambiguousness. Regarding the NSA surveillance program, there is no defined balance between security and liberty. Liberty is mutually exclusive from government interference in the context of security.

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489 Words | 2 Pages

"In time of war, the lot is silent " Cicero. The U.S government should have the right to violate citizens ' civil liberties in the name of national security, but only when necessary. Civil liberties are fundamental individual rights and freedoms which are protected by law against governmental interference. Some example of civil liberties are the 1st amendment and the right to privacy. National security is protecting and countries territory and people from invasion and other threats.

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1030 Words | 5 Pages

Civil liberties are rights guaranteed to citizens in the Constitution that the government cannot interfere with, however, in the name of national security, they do. The government sometimes finds it necessary for Americans to give up some of their basic rights to keep the nation protected, but many people find this unnecessary. A law-abiding citizen’s extremely personal information should not be essential to finding terroristic threats within this society. Under no circumstances should an American citizen’s civil liberties be violated in a time of war or crisis, because those are assured rights that are most valuable to their freedom during national conflicts.

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The Patriot Act is an antiterrorism law that allocates powers to the U.S. Department of Justice, the National Security Agency, and other federal agencies. The law authorizes roving wiretaps, “sneak and peek” warrants, business record searches, and surveillance of individuals suspected of terrorist-related activities not linked to terrorist groups. This authorization is in direct violation of the Fourth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which says that “the people shall be secure in their persons, houses, papers and effects from unreasonable searches and seizures, and that that security can only be violated by a search warrant issued by a neutral judge and based upon probable cause of crime.” The role of definition in legislation starts with

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Even with the emergence of domestic spying and snooping on citizens of the United States, the country is relatively secure. There is a fine line that must be walked in order to meet the needs of providing security for the nation and providing the civil liberties that are afforded to the citizens of the country. This line has become blurred since the attacks of 9/11 with the addition of numerous laws and acts to assist the federal government in meeting the threats posed to the nation. The cost of some of these laws and acts will continue to be looked at for the foreseeable future, as they should be. Once the government starts taking away civil liberties in the name of national security and security for the population, the country’s foundation is all but lost and the oppression begins of the very citizens the system was designed to protect.

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