Revisiting the Patriot Act

tedly said:
The idea isn't that the attacks don't exist, because alQaida is certainly real, but that the tools to use against them are those of local and international police work, not the tools of the police state, and certainly not infantry or air strikes.
Well, leave out "police state" and what you have is arguably the issue that this presidential election boils down to. Should the primary weapon against world-wide Islamic fascism be police work, courts of law, and UN (in)action, or should it be the violent attacks against Islamic fascism? This probably oversimplifies the case, and lest I be accused of presenting a false dilemma, let me state that the current administration is using both tools, and a Kerry administration probably would also, to some extent. But a Kerry administration would put its emphasis on the former, while a Bush one has, and presumably will continue to, put the emphasis on the latter
 
Should the primary weapon against world-wide Islamic fascism be police work, courts of law, and UN (in)action, or should it be the violent attacks against Islamic fascism?

After all that's happened, you think this is still an unresolved issue???!
 
BPSCG said:
From the link in the previous message:
I don't get the BBC here so I'll have to plead ignorance on the details of the program.
I haven't either, it's not due to screen until Wednesday.
BPSCG said:
But are the producers of this program trying to claim that the Soviet Union was not evil?
Evil is a pejorative word. Certainly Stalin was evil but after Stalin ? Is there any evidence that the Soviet Union had any desire to overthrow the U.S. by force.
BPSCG said:
And that al Qaeda and the New York and Washington attacks were an illusion?
Not at all, but that post 9-11 the terrorist threat has been blown out of all proportion.

I have not yet had an opportunity to see the programme so I am going on second hand accounts in the press.
 
Re: Re: Revisiting the Patriot Act

BPSCG said:
That's not really accurate. At the very least, it's misleading.

Link. Author is Andrew C. McCarthy, former federal prosecutor who led the 1995 terrorism case against Sheik Omar Abdel Rahman,

Well, Joseph Story disagrees:

This provision seems indispensable to the full enjoyment of the rights of personal security, personal liberty, and private property. It is little more than the affirmance of a great constitutional doctrine of the common law....pecial warrants upon complaints under oath, stating the crime, and the party by name, against whom the accusation is made, are the only legal warrants, upon which an arrest can be made according to the law of England....A warrant, and the complaint, on which the same is founded, to be legal, must not only state the name of the party, but also the time, and place, and nature of the offence with reasonable certainty.


From Commentaries on the Constitution, §1895
 
Re: Re: Re: Revisiting the Patriot Act

shanek said:
Well, Joseph Story disagrees:
From Commentaries on the Constitution, §1895
Read the link. It doesn't argue that warrants aren't needed (in fact, it makes a case that some parts of the Patriot Act should be repealed), but rather that giving notice to the suspect is not required by the Constitution.

As a practical matter, there's a certain logic to that. As McCarthy points out, what sense does it make to inform someone that his phone line is being tapped? "Dear Mr. Bin Laden, we've been listening in on your phone so you might want to be careful what you say and to whom you say it."

Hence "delayed notice".
 
There's an interesting article about the legislative history of the PATRIOT act here.

Particularly of note is the immediate response of Congress to put in place all the much discussed acts removing intelligence barriers, which had been around for a while - and then Ashcroft additionally forcing in the civil rights things.

Worth a read.
 
Re: Re: Re: Re: Revisiting the Patriot Act

BPSCG said:
Read the link. It doesn't argue that warrants aren't needed (in fact, it makes a case that some parts of the Patriot Act should be repealed), but rather that giving notice to the suspect is not required by the Constitution.

Okay, but as merphie already pointed out, that wasn't what he was talking about.

As a practical matter, there's a certain logic to that. As McCarthy points out, what sense does it make to inform someone that his phone line is being tapped? "Dear Mr. Bin Laden, we've been listening in on your phone so you might want to be careful what you say and to whom you say it."

Hence "delayed notice".

But the key word in the Constitution there is "unreasonable." It is reasonable to withhold notice when one is tapping phones, for obvious reasons. It is unreasonable to withhold notice when searching one's house, car, etc., for equally obvious reasons.
 
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shanek said:
Okay, but as merphie already pointed out, that wasn't what he was talking about.
No one is allowed to notify you of the search before or after under these sections.
Then he didn't make himself very clear.
 
Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Revisiting the Patriot Act

BPSCG said:
Then he didn't make himself very clear.

I don't see how we went from the 4th amendment to this.
 
Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Revisiting the Patriot Act

merphie said:
I don't see how we went from the 4th amendment to this.
From your OP (bolding mine):
The Forth amendment protects the citizens from unreasonable search and seizures and requires a warrant signed by a judge supported by probable cause to perform any search. Sections 215 and 216 of the USA Patriot Act are written in such a way to allow the FBI to conduct a search on anything about a person. Including your medical records to your library records. No one is allowed to notify you of the search before or after under these sections.
 
Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Revisiting the Patriot Act

BPSCG said:
From your OP (bolding mine):
[/B]

Your point makes sense if you only read the first and last sentence.
 
Minor typo...

Third paragraph, second word. "Forth" should be "Fourth." Spellcheck won't catch it because it's spelled correctly, but it's the wrong "Fourth."

Michael

P.S.

Sorry to derail the discussion...
 
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merphie said:
Your point makes sense if you only read the first and last sentence.
Okay. You were asking for comments. I read that paragraph as being an argument that the Patriot Act was unconstitutional in that it violated the Fourth Amendment, and that part of your argument was that the Act allows for delayed notification. My point was that delayed notification is not unconstitutional.

If you think the criticism is unwarranted, fine - it's your article. Let me know what paper you send it to so I can publicly rip you to shreds. :p
 
Re: Minor typo...

coalesce said:
Third paragraph, second word. "Forth" should be "Fourth." Spellcheck won't catch it because it's spelled correctly, but it's the wrong "Fourth."

Michael

P.S.

Sorry to derail the discussion...

Thanks. I had it corrected in my final draft. I haven't posted it yet. I don't want to flood the thread.
 
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BPSCG said:
Okay. You were asking for comments. I read that paragraph as being an argument that the Patriot Act was unconstitutional in that it violated the Fourth Amendment, and that part of your argument was that the Act allows for delayed notification. My point was that delayed notification is not unconstitutional.

If you think the criticism is unwarranted, fine - it's your article. Let me know what paper you send it to so I can publicly rip you to shreds. :p

:rolleyes:

The argument is that some of sections are unconstitutional. (The sections are specifically mentioned.) There is a difference between delayed notification and never notifying anyone. I never mentioned delayed notification. Those are your words.

I don't mind criticism. If I did, I wouldn't have posted anything here.
 
I would think the delay in notification would be an issue, constitutionally, anyway. It would defeat the point of requiring notification if the government could serve notice of the search a hundred years later. Loopholes that allow the practical contravention of the constitution shouldn't be able to pass constitutional muster.
 
TragicMonkey said:
I would think the delay in notification would be an issue, constitutionally, anyway. It would defeat the point of requiring notification if the government could serve notice of the search a hundred years later. Loopholes that allow the practical contravention of the constitution shouldn't be able to pass constitutional muster.
So how would you propose to do a wiretap if you have to notify the bad guy?
 
BPSCG said:
So how would you propose to do a wiretap if you have to notify the bad guy?

That is all fine and great. It used to require a warrant and probable cause.
 
merphie said:
That is all fine and great. It used to require a warrant and probable cause.
What section of the Patriot Act changes that?
 

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