Those of us on the loony left — as the right likes to call us — have been saying since that night oh so long ago, back in the dark hours after 9-11, that the USA Patriot Act does little more than shred the U.S. Constitution, making a mockery out of all the rhetoric we use to praise ourselves as a nation of liberty.
Now a federal judge has finally backed us up on this (from The Washington Post):
U.S. District Judge Victor Marrero in New York ruled that the landmark anti-terrorism law violates the First Amendment and the Constitution’s separation of powers provisions because it effectively prohibits recipients of the FBI letters (NSLs) from revealing their existence and does not provide adequate judicial oversight of the process.
Marrero wrote in his 106-page ruling that Patriot Act provisions related to NSLs are “the legislative equivalent of breaking and entering, with an ominous free pass to the hijacking of constitutional values.”
He went on to say, according to the paper, that
“in light of the seriousness of the potential intrusion into the individual’s personal affairs and the significant possibility of a chilling effect on speech and association–particularly of expression that is critical of the government or its policies–a compelling need exists to ensure that the use of NSLs is subject to the safeguards of public accountability, checks and balances, and separation of powers that our Constitution prescribes.”
He ruled that only some of the NSL provisions were unconstitutional, but found that it was impossible to separate those provisions from other parts of the law. He therefore struck down the FBI’s ability to issue NSLs altogether.
None of this should have been a surprise. As John Nichols points out in his blog on The Nation Web site today, U.S. Sen. Russ Feingold made these points when the Patriot Act first passed in 2001 and again during its reauthorization in 2005.
And it’s not like civil libertarians on the left and the right have not been offering these critiques.
But then, as with the invasion of Iraq, being right means little in a political culture that values obeisance and the conventional wisdom above all.
South Brunswick Post, The Cranbury Press
The Blog of South Brunswick
E-mail me by clicking here.
Hank Kalet 