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The USA PATRIOT Act (Patriot Act) was established after September 11, https://www.essaywriters247.com/ 2001 (9/11) when terrorists attacked the United States.
The Patriot Act has raised many concerns about whether it infringes from the civil liberties of those of the nation. Looking back in history, our past presidents developed laws that have been the stone that is stepping the ideas that developed the Patriot Act. The government’s job is always to protect the social people, but it has a bigger job that is to guard the world. It has raised issues that are many the Patriot Act and whether or not it really is more detrimental to us than it really is helpful. The american people should be concerned with how much power our government has when developing laws governing our civil liberties in relation to the Patriot Act and how it deprives those accused under it of Constitutional rights.
On 11, 2001 the United States (US) experienced the unthinkable when terrorists attacked the country on its own soil september. This was a serious eye opener or must I say reality look for the united states. The usa has many of the most sophisticated counter intelligence on the planet but was not able to prevent such a tragedy. Why didn’t it is seen by them coming? Lots of thing would be different today if that question could half been answered just before 9/11.
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This act was compiled from two documents, the Provide Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism (PATRIOT) through the House of Representatives (House) therefore the Uniting and Strengthening American (USA) Act through the Senate, was merged together creating the Patriot Act. According to Lemieux, previous developed laws created by previous presidents to solve conflicts were similar to the Patriot Act they simply had different names Lemieux, M. (n.d.). History of the united states Patriot Act. Retrieved 9, 2011, from http://www.constitutiondenied.com/Media/History-Patriot-Act.pdf april. The Aliens and Sedition Act of 1798 was created during the pugilative war with France as the US was afraid for the country plus the people and wished to ensure that the enemy did not sleep amongst us. With this power the president managed to have anyone who was considered to be a threat to the government will be arrested and deported. During the Civil War the president suspended Habeas Corpus for the safety benefits of the world, giving the us government the ability to imprison someone without sufficient evidence. The President ordered over 10,000 American citizens that had not shown any disloyalty to the United States into confinement camps since they were of Japanese descent Lemieux, M. (n.d.) during World War II. History of the USA Patriot Act. Retrieved 9, 2011, from http://www.constitutiondenied.com/Media/History-Patriot-Act.pdf april. They are the stepping stone behind the development of the Patriot Act.
The Patriot Act has been around since as a response towards the tragic events of 9/11. The bill that would come to be referred to as Patriot Act was introduced to Congress just days after 9/11. It was revised due to concerns from many congressmen that the bill allowed for too broad of a scope of capacity to authorities that are federal. Eventually following the bill was revised and reintroduced, Congress passed it with little to no opposition on 26, 2001 october. Senator Russell Feingold (D-WI), would up being the senator that is only vote resistant to the Patriot Act. Although the Patriot Act did not enter into existence until after 9/11, it does have roots in earlier legislation. On 25, 1996, President Clinton signed the Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act into law april. The balance with this law was introduced following the Oklahoma City Bombing. The most important provision regarding the act caused it to be illegal to deliver support that is“material to any organization banned because of the state dept.. The bill was greatly criticized by Republicans for granting power that is too much authorities. The balance had to undergo modifications that are major it had been passed in 1996. The balance that ended up becoming law was said to be a “watered down version” of the original that President Clinton wanted passed. Strangely enough, it was this act which was revamped and broadened to produce the Patriot Act (Creative Commons, n.d.).
The Patriot Act has been highly criticized for being extremely broad and too open for interpretation since becoming law. In 2004, a judge ruled that parts of the Patriot Act were unconstitutional because they were too vague plus in violation of this First and Fifth Amendments. Another criticism of the Patriot Act is that it generally does not guarantee enough oversight to be sure that those who are given power because of the act do not misuse it. On March 9, 2006 President Bush signed the Patriot Act Reauthorization, but attached a statement that is signing that he said which he would ignore specific mandates printed in the balance that will give more judicial and Congressional oversight to agencies authorized utilization of the act. In late March, letters were written to Alberto Gonzales, the Attorney General at that time, requesting to truly have the administration rescind the signing statement given that they do not have force of law. In those letters, they cited Article 1, Section 7 for the Constitution which states that ‘Every bill which shall have passed the House of Representatives while the Senate, shall, if he approve he shall sign it, however if not he shall return it. before it become a Law, be presented towards the President associated with United States;’ Alberto Gonzales and President Bush both ignored the letters rather than responded. Their argument was that the president could not change legislation that had been passed by Congress and say which he did not agree with that he would ignore part of it. On 10, 2007, an appeals court upheld the 2004 ruling that parts of the Patriot Act were unconstitutional december. Into the ruling, the court stated that a statute must allow for an individual of average intelligence to be able to see and comprehend the law. They found that certain components of the act were too vague. They determined that if the law was worded in a fashion that the average person could not understand, then the average person wouldn’t normally know if they were committing a crime (Creative Commons, n.d.).
Even though many believe that our terrorist threat from other countries is very good, there is also driving a car of terrorist attacks on the US by its very own citizens. The Oklahoma City Bombing is a example that is tragic. In some instances, there is a necessity when it comes to government to suspect an American citizen and do surveillance to protect the country from another such tragedy. The us government has been doing espionage work for longer than many people think. It isn’t a practice that is new however with the technology we now have today, it really is easier for authorities to gather intelligence. And even though they usually have this technology at their disposal that does not mean that the Constitution could be ignored within the true name of protecting the US.
An example associated with Patriot Act being used in such a way is in the case of Jose Padilla.
He was a Puerto Rican born citizen who later in the life converted to Islam. He traveled for the Middle East and allegedly plotted with al Qaeda terrorists to detonate a “dirty bomb” in a US city. As soon while he stepped off an airplane in the usa he was detained. The Bush Administration claimed though he was an American citizen because he had been deemed an “enemy combatant” by the president that he could be detained even. He was then held in a military brig for three and a half years and was allegedly subjected to torture at the hands of US officials trying to elicit information from him. In those days, he had been not faced with any crimes although it was said there is evidence that is overwhelming him. He had been also take off from all communication together with his family and attorney (Martinez, 2007).
