Why the Partiot Act is bad for our freedom

Why the Patriot Act is Bad for Our Freedom

The Patriot Act , officially titled the "Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism Act of 2001 , was passed after the terrorist attacks on New York and Washington on September 11 , 2001 "USA Patriot Act . In the days after 9 /11 , the President and members of Congress concluded that the terrorists could have been stopped if the CIA , the FBI , and other law enforcement agencies had been able to gather more intelligence about potential terrorist suspects and

to communicate better with each other . The Patriot Act was designed to make it easier for the government to gather information about the actions of potential terrorists and to make it easier for government agencies to share that information with each other . Ironically , by passing the Patriot Act , Congress and the President managed to accomplish what the terrorists could not do . The terrorists destroyed buildings and killed Americans . The Patriot Act destroyed the Constitution and took away the rights of American citizens

The Patriot Act contradicts the Constitution 's Fourth Amendment protections against unreasonable search and seizure and Fifth Amendment protections against false imprisonment (ACLU , 2003 . The signers of the United States Constitution believed that the government should not be allowed to search an individual or a private residence unless law enforcement agencies could show that they had a very good reason to do so and could convince a judge that they needed to conduct a search . The Fourth Amendment of the U .S . Constitution says "The right of the people to be secure in their persons , houses , s , and effects , against unreasonable searches and seizures , shall not be violated , and no warrants shall issue , but upon probable cause , supported by oath or affirmation , and particularly describing the place to be searched , and the persons or things to be seized " The Fifth Amendment says that citizens shall not be "deprived of life , liberty , or property , without due process of law

Before the Patriot Act became a law , the FBI and other law enforcement agencies had to get a warrant from a judge before they could search a home , intercept and read private mail , listen to phone calls , and do other invasions of a person 's privacy . The Patriot Act changed these rules and made it easier for government agencies to conduct investigations without having to get the approval of a judge

Since the Patriot Act was passed , it has been used in ways that the members of Congress probably did not think about when they passed it . In 2004 , U .S . Attorney General John Ashcroft said "Powers permitted under the Patriot Act have also been used in investigations involving potential school bomb attacks , computer hackers , child pornography violent fugitives and illegal weapons sales " It is true that stopping these potential crimes before they actually occurred , if they were actual threats , is a good thing . However , the Patriot Act was supposed to be used against terrorists , not against other...