The United States Patriot Act was enacted and passed in October 2001. Congress passed this Act under the governance of President George Bush. The major aim of this Act was to expand national security measures and surveillance. It was thus intended to counter terrorist attacks. The Patriot Act entails different measures for its effectiveness. It allows the investigators to use the available resources and technologies. The Act also allows government agencies to freely share information to ensure National Security. It also led to the law that ensures Up to date technology in order to counter new threats. The Patriot Act has led to reforms on the penalties to those who are involved in terrorist crimes. It also shows the government's interest to protect its citizens. However, the Act has resulted to the violation of Americans’ right to liberty through unconstitutional surveillance, denial of speech and the access of personal information without consent.
The Patriot Act entails a highly controversial concept in section 215. It allows too much power for the government to demand information from companies used in the investigations. The misuse of power is highly evident especially after the National Security Agency utilized section 215 to take up a nationwide collection in the bulk of phone records. This amount of power exceeds what Congress intended in the creation of the Patriot Act. Moreover, the collection of so many phone records shows an invasion of privacy. Section 215 of the Patriot Act violates the Fourth Amendment which states that a person has a right to oppose any searches that are unreasonable on their house, papers, and their properties (Surveillance under the USA/Patriot Act, n.d.). Government agencies have also violated people’s privacy through the use of drones and piloted aircraft. The fourth amendment thus restrains the government from accessing people’s personal information without warrants that are only issued if there is a reasonable cause. The rule that existed before the Patriot Act stated that a government agency requires to have a warrant and probable cause before accessing any information. The Probable cause must have been determined by the court of its reliability. The court evaluated whether the probable cause was objective and reasonable.
Delegate your assignment to our experts and they will do the rest.
The ability of government agencies to access personal information held by third parties show a lack of civil liberty. It is astonishing to realize that the Patriot Act allows members of the FBI task force to easily demand information from universities, bookstores, libraries, and doctors concerning clients (Evans, 2001). This is not only a violation of clients’ privacy but also a humiliation to the doctors and other service providers. This makes it unsafe for any person to give their information confidentially to a third party. Mainly this violation occurs with no reasonable reasons or even a warrant to access such information.
The result of the violation of citizens’ liberty is due to unchecked and uncontrolled power. The Patriot Act law makes it possible for the government to have enormous power such that agencies do not require evidence to require the information. The lack of serious following of the fourth amendment shows that those subjected to these types of actions are not protected against privacy abuse by the authorities (Fourth Amendment, n.d.). This shows the inefficiency of the United States Judicial system. In addition to forcefully turning over records, people and organizations subject to this stress are not allowed to disclose the searches or report to anybody. . All the government agencies access to information shows that the Patriot Act fails to protect the people in the United States and therefore their personal information can be used for other purposes besides promoting National Security.
The Patriot Act has undermined American citizens. This is because the public is placed in a position where it cannot challenge the government's unwarranted searches in a court of law. For example in the year 2017, government officials were able to get into the meetings of public protest plans through Facebook. Therefore people do not have the power to seek justice from the courts. As they lack defense against government agencies.
The Patriot Act is Unconstitutional since government agencies can access personal information without giving any notice. A notice is very important as it informs an individual of what to expect. Issuing a notice allows an individual to be psychologically prepared and ready. However, the Patriot Law unconstitutionally allows the government agencies through the Federal Rules associated with Criminal Procedure to search private property and information without the owners’ knowledge. This level of power shows that government agencies use the patriot act in normal or domestic criminal investigations. Therefore, this power is abused since it should only be used in fighting terrorism.
The Patriot Act has contributed to the denial of freedom of speech in the United States. The freedom of speech is constitutional under the First amendment. However, the Patriot Act has the power to deem it unlawful for any individual to take part in peaceful and lawful activities on behalf of any group. However, if a government is biased toward a particular group of organizations there are high chances of deeming it a terrorist group. Therefore any person who speaks out from this group no matter the type of message is envied the freedom of speech. For example, in 2010, the Humanitarian non-profit law project at some point stopped engaged in international mediation (Totenberg, 2010). This is because the speaker Ralph Fertig who was the president of the organization had been convicted and jailed several times. Ralph always gave speeches that advocated for peace and the end of violence.
Another major disadvantage of the Patriot Act is that it has in some cases resulted in unlawful imprisonment. For example, Adhan Houston was detained for almost seventeen months under the Patriot Act Rule. Adham was identified as a threat to national security by the executive branch. This is because he had been charged with material support to a terrorist organization. This was a result of Adhams charity to the Muslims who were suffering in the 1990s under the military conflicts. In 2007 he was convicted and jailed and then detained under the immigration laws. After the government had no right to detain him under immigration laws, the Patriotic Act of 2001 was utilizing. This stated that releasing Adhams was a major risk as he would be an endangerment to national security. The government ensured that no court would assess the case thus ensuring that Adhams had spent so much time in jail where he was not supposed to (ACLU, n.d.) . The case after being assessed by the judicial system showed that Adham landed in jail due to allegations of only one informant. This informant has a history of deception and defrauding other immigrants. This case shows the misuse of the Patriotic Act by the executive branch. It also shows how ineffective the executive branch handles cases without a probable and reasonable cause. Convicting of innocent people continues especially of most Muslims.
The Presence of the Patriot Act has resulted in polarized communities. People now live in fear of surveillance without their knowledge. People are also afraid of the cruelty and the hostility that has been evident in particular cases such as that of Adham. Policies and Acts in society are enacted to assure peace, security, and the welfare of citizens. However, The Patriot Act makes people uncomfortable and it is a defense mechanism to end citizen liberty. The Patriot Act has resulted in more harm to the public than protection from terrorist attacks ( What is the USA Patriot web, n.d.). As result members of congress and the judicial laws have explained the need to have reforms in the Patriot Act. There is a need for control and accountability of information that government agencies require from the public.
Reforms in the Patriot Act may lead to a better society with absolute citizen liberty. These reforms aim to end the violation of people's civil rights. The main issue that needs to be reformed is the absolute power that the government has over records and communication. There is a need to control the ability of the executive branch from having too much power that it violates it. Section 215 that entails the call details is a program that should be changed. This is because s accessing many a big population's phone records with no probable cause is invasive (Surveillance under the USA/Patriot Act, n.d.). This program also shows that it is dysfunctional as it has shown instances of over-collection.
In conclusion, critics are right to state that the Patriot Act is a violation of people’s rights of freedom. Moreover, the Act should be used only to address national security matters. Congress has the responsibility to ensure that the policies enacted are fair and just to all Americans. The government should aim to protect the citizens of its country and not violate their rights. The USA Freedom Act of 2015 provides a roadmap to what is expected of a society where the citizens are given their liberty. Freedom is a right to all citizens and even the government should not have the power to deny it.
References
ACLU. https://www.aclu.org/news/national-security/after-17-months-of-unlawful-detention-court-orders-release-of-u-s-resident-wrongfully-detained-under-patriot-act/
Evans, J. C. (2001). Hijacking civil liberties: The USA PATRIOT Act of 2001. Loy. U. Chi. LJ , 33 , 933.
Surveillance under the USA/Patriot Act. (n.d.). American Civil Liberties Union . https://www.aclu.org/other/surveillance-under-usapatriot-act
The Fourth Amendment. (n.d.). National Constitution Center . https://constitutioncenter.org/interactive-constitution/interpretation/amendment-iv/interps/121
Totenberg. (2010, February 23). Does the Patriot Act violate free speech? NPR.org . https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=123993822
What is the USA Patriot web. (n.d.). U.S. Department of Justice . https://www.justice.gov/archive/ll/highlights.htm
