Are We Targeting Our Fellow Countrymen? The Consequences of the USA PATRIOT Act (original) (raw)

2008, Journal of educational controversy

and Policy "They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety." attributed to Benjamin Franklin Introduction: Shortly after the attacks of September 11, Congress passed the Patriot Act (2001) without any debates or discussions regarding its effects. This complex legislation was passed without clear and calm understanding about the manner in which this document would shape our nation and our liberties. It is unfortunate that a gulf continues to exist between those who know about the effects of the Patriot Act and those who do not. This paper is not intended to explain the entire Patriot Act. It is a subjective piece meant to highlight only a few of the ways that the Patriot Act has fundamentally reduced our civil liberties, and in doing so encouraged racial profiling and hate crimes. We will show how these trends are particularly destructive to school and university environments. If this paper is successful in its intent, you may share our belief that only by standing up for our rights will they continue to live on. Redefining the Constitution through a Terrorist Lens: The Administration and the Congress bypassed careful debate by enacting too quickly legislation that would supposedly insulate the United States against further attack by increasing the ability of law enforcement agencies to conduct search and seizure, institute wire taps without a warrant, and physically detain a person without allowing access to legal representation (Stubbs, 20032004). The Patriot Act received Congressional approval within 45 days of the September 11 attacks. With heightened public fear and outrage, and demands for justice, the Patriot Act, offering what was touted as additional protection from the unknown, received little resistance from any members of Congress who might have been concerned about the possibility of unconstitutional legal action (ACLU, 2003). While privacy is not explicitly guaranteed by the Constitution, it can be implicitly derived from several Constitutional amendments: The First Amendment protects the individual's freedoms of expression, religion and association. The Third Amendment protects the private citizen against the state's harboring military personnel in his or her private residence, and the Fourth Amendment, against unreasonable search and seizure. The Fifth Amendment ensures that individuals cannot be compelled to provide testimony against themselves. The Ninth Amendment reserves "to the people" those rights which are not enumerated in the Constitution. Finally, the Fourteenth Amendment guarantees that no person shall be deprived of life, liberty or property without due process of the law, providing an additional bulwark against government interference in individual privacy (Diffie & Landau, 1998). The act reduced existing federal limitations, allowing local, state and federal government agencies to conduct surveillance of all forms of electronic communication, financial transaction histories, library and bookstore records, and to seize and search anyone who is suspected of terrorist activities (U. S. Department of Justice, n.d.). Section 206 of the Patriot Act authorizes the government to conduct "roving" wiretaps. These wiretaps are suspectspecific rather than devicespecific, which means that