PR Log (Press Release) – Jan 25, 2010 – Eight years after its initial passage, the USA PATRIOT Act faces yet another opponent. Chapter 5 of The 2008 Presidential Election Handbook and Commentary: The Connection to Hope attacks the unconstitutionality of the Act, and calls on Congress to repeal it or make final constitutional adjustments to every section in violation. The majority of the author’s 443 tweets, last count, on Twitter.com under the name, skyhighhopes, make reference to Chapter 5 of the book and quote the congressional record of remorseful congressmen, who were trying to curtail sneak-and-peek searches by eliminating funding for section 213 of the Act. The book challenges American citizens of goodwill to prompt changes. After reviewing a few web pages of the publisher’s website, www.healthylivingusa.com, one might even say that a crusade has been launched against PATRIOT.
The USA PATRIOT Act was passed in 2001 by the 107th Congress and signed by the 43rd President of the United States on October 26, just 45 days after 9/11. The constitutional breaches were obvious then, but most of them had sunset clauses. Congress reauthorized PATRIOT in 2005 and 2006, extending some of those sunset clauses and making others permanent. Several federal courts have already ruled many provisions of the Act unconstitutional.
On October 20, 2009, H.R. 3584, cited as “USA PATRIOT Amendments Act of 2009,” was introduced in the House of Representatives by Congressman Conyers of Michigan and supported by Nadler of New York, Cohen of Tennessee, Harman of California, Jackson-Lee of Texas, Holt of New Jersey, Honda of California, Michaud of Maine, Pingree of Maine, Schakowsky of Illinois, and Johnson of Georgia. It was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary, the Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, and the Committee on Financial Services.
According to a summary written by the Congressional Research Service, a nonpartisan arm of the Library of Congress, USA PATRIOT Amendments Act of 2009 would amend the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978 (FISA) to revise requirements relating to roving electronic surveillance, production of records for counterterrorism investigations, and use of pen registers and trap and trace devices (devices for recording incoming and outgoing telephone numbers). It extends through December 31, 2013, provisions of the USA PATRIOT Act authorizing: (1) roving electronic surveillance; and (2) orders for the production of records for counterterrorism investigations—extending audit requirements relating to orders for tangible things, pen registers and trap and trace devices, the use of national security letters, and amending the federal criminal code to reduce the period -- from 30 to 7 days -- for giving notice to the target of a search warrant in a criminal investigation.
The summary further states that the National Security Letter Reform Act of 2009 extends through December 31, 2013, the authority for issuance of national security letters, modifies the standard for issuing national security letters to require a separate writing -- documenting specific and articulable facts -- showing reasonable grounds to believe that the information sought pertains to a foreign power or an agent of a foreign power, and requires notice to a recipient of a national security letter of the right of judicial review of any nondisclosure requirement. The Act sets forth procedures for judicial review of a national security letter nondisclosure order, requires the Attorney General to authorize use of any information obtained from a national security letter in a criminal investigation, and to establish minimization and destruction procedures for information obtained from a national security letter that is no longer of interest in an authorized investigation.
In committee, the bill was recommended to the full House for consideration and placed on the calendar of business, the order in which legislation is considered and voted on, but health care has taken precedence. Every bill must be approved by both Houses of Congress then merged into one before it can be signed by the President. Sometimes the text of one bill is incorporated into another bill, and in those cases the original bill would appear to be abandoned. So even if the bill is passed successfully, the process could take a while.
In spite of the forward motion of the bill in the 111th Congress, the author of The Connection to Hope seems doubtful that any corrective version of the Act would restore civil liberties and nullify constitutional breaches that have existed for eight years.
Any loyal American could very well ask, “Is time on the side of the American people if this process of correction is prolonged?” and “What is the agenda of the proponents of the Act.?”
The 2008 Presidential Election Handbook and Commentary: The Connection to Hope is available at www.healthylivingusa.com/theconnectiontohope, www.amazon.com, and your local bookstore.
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