Patriot Act

One issue before us during the next year is the renewal of the USA Patriot Act. One easily understood controversial section is Title II, Section 215. Notice how weak and unenforceable the civil liberties protections are. The "first amendment" clause seems meaningless, since you can get around it easily by claiming that no terrorist activity is protected under the Constitution. More troublesome is the secrecy provision. Republicans often point out that critics can't cite cases of abuse. As the act itself makes clear, however, we have no way of knowing whether it has been abused or not.