Judge Rules Against Patriot Act Provision

[adios]

My take is that it's an example of the system working but I'm sure there are those that don't agree.

Judge Rules Against Patriot Act Provision (http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/nm/20040929/ts_nm/rights_patriot_dc)

Top Stories - Reuters


Judge Rules Against Patriot Act Provision

1 hour, 12 minutes ago Top Stories - Reuters



NEW YORK (Reuters) - Part of the Patriot Act, a central plank of the Bush Administration's war on terror, was ruled unconstitutional by a federal judge on Wednesday.


U.S. District Judge Victor Marreo ruled in favor of the American Civil Liberties Union (news - web sites), which challenged the power the FBI (news - web sites) has to demand confidential financial records from companies as part of terrorism investigations.


The ruling was the latest blow to the Bush administration's anti-terrorism policies.


In June, the U.S. Supreme Court (news - web sites) ruled that terror suspects being held in places like Guantanamo Bay can use the American judicial system to challenge their confinement. That ruling was a defeat for the president's assertion of sweeping powers to hold "enemy combatants" indefinitely after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.


The ACLU sued the Department of Justice (news - web sites), arguing that part of the Patriot legislation violated the constitution because it authorizes the FBI to force disclosure of sensitive information without adequate safeguards.


The judge agreed, stating that the provision "effectively bars or substantially deters any judicial challenge."


Under the provision, the FBI did not have to show a judge a compelling need for the records and it did not have to specify any process that would allow a recipient to fight the demand for confidential information.

[KLGambiT]

I will just say i am more than willing to have the gov. look into my library records or phone records. The fact is im not a terrorist nor am i doing anything illegal. The way i see this is that if you have something to hide then u hate the patriot act, if u have nothing to hide than u have nothing to worry about. Plus the fact i would gladly give up some of my rights to make sure my fellow citizens are safer. About the people at Gitmo, these are terroists who were caught fighting americans. These are not people who were just picked up off the street for shop lifting. Everyone who is in gitmo belongs there. Just yesterday a man who we released from gitmo was killed in afganistan fighting against americans. So we can thank the scum at the ACLU for letting terroists back on the streets. These are not fighters from any army or any country, as far as im concerened they have absoluteley no rights.

[MMMMMM]

I'm not up on the details of most such things but I think it is a step in the right direction that the Patriot act be dissected and evaluated. It might be better that Congress do this (rather than the judiciary). At any rate I think that those who call for scrapping OR maintaining the Patriot Act in its current form are probably misguided: what should take place is an evaluation and approval/disapproval of each provision of the act (since there are some important and valuable provisions, yet there are also some other provisions that probably do little to fight terror but do infringe on our rights or liberties).

Just my vague 2 cents.

[tolbiny]

Ever get the urge to simply call someone an idiot?

As for the people at Gitmo, more than 200 detainees were released after spending nearly 2 years there. The reason for their release? Absolutely no evidence that they participated in terroist attacks against the US.

as for the fact that you have done nothing wrong and there for have nothing to hide, i will be happy to come to your house, strip search you, rumage through everything you own, stripseach your wife, two young daughters, your son, (have someone else) perform an anal cavity search on your dog.
Politely thank you for your cooperation and go on my way.
It will make everyone just a little bit safer.
Don't worry though, you have nothing to worry about.

[Knockwurst]

[ QUOTE ]
I will just say i am more than willing to have the gov. look into my library records or phone records. The fact is im not a terrorist nor am i doing anything illegal. The way i see this is that if you have something to hide then u hate the patriot act, if u have nothing to hide than u have nothing to worry about. Plus the fact i would gladly give up some of my rights to make sure my fellow citizens are safer. About the people at Gitmo, these are terroists who were caught fighting americans. These are not people who were just picked up off the street for shop lifting. Everyone who is in gitmo belongs there. Just yesterday a man who we released from gitmo was killed in afganistan fighting against americans. So we can thank the scum at the ACLU for letting terroists back on the streets. These are not fighters from any army or any country, as far as im concerened they have absoluteley no rights.

[/ QUOTE ]

This one gets my vote for Most Ignorant Post of the Year.

I'm glad that you have such blind trust in the Government. Fortunately, the Founding Fathers, who penned the Bill of Rights didn't.

Holding American citizens indefinitely without counsel or judicial review, if the Executive Branch declares in a document based on double and triple hearsay that the citizen is an enemy combatant is something we should support if we have nothing to hide?

How about people who simply cherish their civil liberties and do not want unwarranted Government intrusion? Could that be reason enough to be against aspects of the so-called Patriot Act?

And everyone in Gitmo deserves to be there? Based on what, the Government's say so? As was pointed out, hundreds have been freed recently after the Supreme Court ruled that the prisoners were entitled to judicial review.

While you might not think it's warranted to jealously guard the liberties that have made this country so great, it's fortunate that others do. /images/graemlins/smile.gif

[tolbiny]

Yay!!!
My intial reaction was simply to type
IDIOT or
idiot
and move on.
fortunately i chose a slightly more mature path.
unfortunately i went and found one of his others posts just so i could call him an idiot again.

ohhh yeah, welcome to the forum

[mmcd]

I have no problem with the Patriot Act so long as it is used ONLY TO GO AFTER TERRORISTS. I remember a news story a while back where some guy was convicted of tax evasion and money laundering because the Feds used the Patriot act to access his financial records.

I have no problem giving the government broad powers to aid them in finding/capturing/killing our enemies in a time of war, but when they start using these powers in regular criminal case against U.S. citizens who get a little creative in their accounting, a line has to be drawn.

[MMMMMM]

Government officials are people, and people in general have a tendency towards corruption. You cannot trust the government any more than you can trust the people in the government.

Our civil rights exist for a reason--without them we would all probably suffer.

Generally, I do however think the foreigners who were caught in Afghanistan fighting with or hanging out with al-Qaeda and the Taliban probably should be in Gitmo--or else be dead.

[Nepa]

[ QUOTE ]
I have no problem with the Patriot Act so long as it is used ONLY TO GO AFTER TERRORISTS.

[/ QUOTE ]

The government never oversteps its power. LOL

[ACPlayer]

Still vague, but better than your usual 1 cents worth. /images/graemlins/grin.gif