The USA Patriot Act, also known as "Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism" was a rushed act passed 45 days after the devastating terrorist attack on the twin towers September 11th, 2001. It was composed with the intention of finding and prosecuting international terrorists on American soil, but consequently violated the constitution. In addition, the Patriot act allows surveillance on all emails, internet, and cell phones to try and catch terrorists. Regardless, the act ended up having more power than primarily planned as stated in the CNN debate on the patriot act. America was founded on the principle of individual liberties and the pursuit of happiness in the context
The United States of America’s Patriot Act is a law or bill in place that is meant for our government to spy on terrorists. This Act is a very nice tool that the FBI, CIA, Army, and many other branches can use to track people. It came into effect after the September 11, 2001 attack on the twin towers. The USA Patriot Act includes information sharing, roving wiretaps, access to records, foreign intelligence, wiretaps and searches, “Sneak and Peek” warrants, and material support. Although there is plenty of people that do not support the Act it is very beneficial and goes through a couple of reforms every once and awhile.
This act increased the federal powers imposed on the citizens in order to help their efforts towards investigating terrorists. These powers included telephone taps, internet taps, voice mail, grand jury information, immigration, money laundering, and crime. While these powers made it easier for the government to track down possible suspects of terrorism, it interfered with the people’s right to privacy. All the provisions under the Patriot Act can be used on the citizens with the approval of a court order. Furthermore, it interfered with the Fourth Amendment.
This is a clear example that shows that even the most controversial parts of the Patriot Act are not just constitutional, but strongly supported by the Constitution. From this, many see that any attempted claims that the Patriot Act is wrong in the law are based merely on thought. But, there are more than one sections of the Patriot Act that are up for debate. Any arguments against the Patriot Act are destroyed quickly due to the fact that, “no single provision of the Patriot Act has ever been found unconstitutional,” (McNeil). Once again, it is clear that the Patriot Act is constitutional.
The USA PATRIOT Act stands for "Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism. " This bill was signed into law with little debate on October 26, 2001, only 45 days after the attacks that rocked our country. The vote in favor of the law was overwhelming and bi-partisan – 98 to 1 in the US Senate and 357 to 66 in the US House of Representatives. Yet, the bill was 342 pages long, and many members of Congress now say they did not even read it before voting in favor. Author Steven Brill (2003) asserts in his book, After: Rebuilding and Defending America in the September 12 Era, that the version of the USA PATRIOT Act voted on by Congress was not the bill that had been approved in committee
In conclusion, the USA Patriot Act has long enabled law enforcement to remain above the rules and regulations of the United States legislature. It has resulted in distrust of the American people towards their enforcing bureaucracy. The citizens of the United States have lost their civil rights and have been treated as criminals in penalty of an unknown crime. For too long, police have been able to abuse their power. The Patriot Act has destroyed the public opinion of law enforcement due to technological advances and information collection.
The Patriot act when passed it was overlooked, rushed and it did hinder our rights and privacy, however at that time who was thinking about their right and privacy when such an act had just happened. I was in high school when the Patriot Act went into law and all I cared was to make sure that the people that planned the attack get what they deserved for killing so many Americans. Maybe, they waited for the time that the American people were vulnerable to pass the Patriot Act, because they knew it wasn’t going to get everyone’s attention. Now, that a lot of people know how the Patriot Act works and how it has been used, we the American people want it gone or to have a better supervision so that individuals with malicious intent wont misuse it
The U.S. PATRIOT Act was passed on October 26, 2011. This act gives extensive powers to “federal investigators to track down suspected terrorists and spoil any future terrorist attacks in the United States” (Uddin, 2014). While there are both opponents and supporters of this act, it mainly seems to cause controversy as news stories chronicle the latest pros and mostly cons regarding the topic. When first passed, supporters said that the provisions would enhance information sharing. Detractors, however, said that “unrestricted sharing could lead to the development of databases about citizens who are not targets of criminal investigations” (Abramson & Godoy, 2005).
I am in favor of the patriot ACT. I know many people think, it is kind of violation of the privacy, but the patriot ACT make the U.S. a better place to live. There are countries, which try to do some damage to the U.S., and they will do anything to accomplish it. The patriot ACT made it easier for the law enforcement whenever they needed to arrest someone, whether is a drug dealer, a terror organization or someone who tries to make some damages through technology. These acts can have huge impact on the people and the society, law enforcement should act faster than the enemies in order to get them before they get what they want.
Today, terrorism has become the most newsworthy headline. Terrorism has been happening all over the world and people are not sure how to stop it. People want terrorism to stop however, they do not want their rights violated. Through social media, many have mentioned that “the government is always watching us.” The USA PATRIOT Act (Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism Act) signed in 2001, allows the government to have access to anything, anytime, anywhere.
The Patriot Act, sounds like the title of a really corny comic book. However it is actually an act enforced by the U.S. government that allows certain things be done, like people's phone calls to be recorded in or social media kept under watch, order to protect citizens from possible terrorists. This is a controversial topic due to people believing their rights are being taken away. I think that claim is totally proposterous seeing as how it protects said people from future terrorist attacks. With that idea, how can you argue against the point and uses of the Patriot Act?
The war on terror – prompted by the 9/11 terrorist attacks – has resulted in the change in law enforcement in concern for nation’s safety and privacy. The USA Patriot Act was the first legislation in the awake of 9/11. Forty-five days after the September 11, terrorist attacks on the United States, Congress passed the USA Patriot Act also known as the “Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism.” The purpose of this act is found in its full name. It was created with the decent intention of finding and prosecuting international terrorists operating on the land of America and secure our nation from future terrorist attacks.
On the other hand, opponents of the Patriot Act claim it violates our rights to privacy. Likewise, arguments over the patriot act are multifaceted and complex and both sides have valid points. Contenders of this act are justified in that they fear “big brother”, they fear this is a slippery slope which could move us closer to other countries where the government exerts total power over its citizens. What the opponents do not take into account is that we have more to fear from these countries that wish to kill us than we do from our own government and sometimes change is necessary to keep the threat of other countries at minimum.
”(Kubic, 16). Americans will always have something to complain about to the government about the government but they are just trying to do what is best for the people. The PATRIOT Act is something that causes a lot of controversy but in the long run is there to protect the citizens even when those citizens don’t want
“At least 42 terrorist attacks aimed at the United States have been thwarted since 9/11” (Reality). The majority of people know about the tragedy that happened on September 11th, 2001, but not that many people know about what came to be after the event; the Patriot Act. This act is the “Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism Act of 2001” (Miller). The Patriot Act got put in place by the President and almost got a unanimous vote to pass it nearly ten days after. It was later used to take down many of the 42 attack plots.
