The Patriot Act

In the midst of potential war and terror many are worried of what the future holds. This is how the American people felt after the terrible terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon on September 11, 2001. The government had to think fast and make brash decisions to protect our country, and The Patriot Act (during the time) was the best solution. The Patriot Act was one of the fastest acts passed, many government officials were only thinking of the present, and ways to prevent foreign attack. The act has been edited several times over the years due to many mistakes of violating individual’s rights. What exactly is the act? The definition is “Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required or Intercept

The Supreme Court is different from other courts because it is the highest court in the United States. Other courts cannot appeal the Supreme Court’s decisions, because most of their cases are directly interpreting the constitution. That judicial branch can interpret the constitution how they want without conflict from the other two branches. They follow the basic rules of the constitution, and protect basic principles under judicial independence. When a case has to go all the way to the Supreme Court there is no doubt that it causes a problem with the constitution. This is what happened with Antoine Jones in the Supreme Court Case of The United States v. Antoine Jones. Jones was arrested for drug possession when police attached a tracker to his jeep without judicial approval and followed him for a month. Jones argued his conviction because it violated the Fourth Amendment’s protection against unreasonable search and seizure. The Supreme Court’s ruling was delivered by Justice Scalia, and with a 5-4 split they decided this: "the Government 's installation of a GPS device on a target 's vehicle, and its use of that device to monitor the vehicle 's movements, constitutes a 'search '" under the Fourth Amendment” (Scalia 5). This court case ties directly to the Patriot Act. The Patriot Act directly violates the fourth amendment because of it searches through American people’s private devices. The United States v. Antoine Jones had concurring opinions, disputes between other judges, and other complicated interpretations of the constitution. If this is how the justices are seeing the case with Jones shouldn’t they look at the government. Through the Patriot Act the government is doing this everyday, and there is nothing being done