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Stop "Patriot II"
Secret arrests. Unrestricted wiretaps. Church surveillance. Patriot II (officially known as the Domestic Security Enhancement Act) is a follow-up to Ashcroft's USA PATRIOT Act. Like most sequels, this one is even worse than the original. Patriot Act II would extend the unconstitutional reach of USA PATRIOT by granting sweeping new powers to the government, including unchecked government surveillance, secret arrests, and wiretapping of churches, synagogues and mosques. It gives John Ashcroft and the Justice Department the ability to label political protest groups as "terrorists," and even strip their members of U.S. citizenship. Take action to stop another federal power grab before it happens.
Dear [ Decision Maker ] , As your constituent, I urge you to oppose any efforts by Attorney General John Ashcroft to pass his proposed "Domestic Security Enhancement Act" in Congress. I am deeply concerned that rather than passing this new Act - which would give new and even more controversial powers than the "USA PATRIOT Act" - Congress should instead investigate and oversee ways in which this Administration has already used or misused new powers. I have read that the new Ashcroft proposal contains a multitude of new and sweeping law enforcement and intelligence gathering powers, many of which are not related to terrorism, that would severely undermine basic constitutional rights and checks and balances. If adopted, the bill would diminish personal privacy by removing important checks on government surveillance authority, reduce the accountability of government to the public by increasing government secrecy, expand on the definition of "terrorism" in a manner that threatens the constitutionally protected rights of Americans, and seriously erode the right of all persons to due process of law. I am very concerned that already under the USA PATRIOT Act, this government has compiled unprecedented powers to violate our civil liberties and tap deep into the private lives of innocent Americans. Congress must not accept new legislation that threatens our constitutional rights in the name of security against terrorism. I believe that we can be safe and free without sacrificing the very values for which our nation stands. In its role as representing the people, Congress should now step in and block any efforts to pass additional legislation intruding on our core liberties and rights. At the same time, I also believe it is the duty of Congress to force the Administration to account for the ways in which it has already used its new powers under the USA Patriot Act. To this end, I hope that you will take every opportunity to support oversight hearings into the ways in which the government has used its new powers. I look forward to hearing your thoughts on this important matter.
Sincerely, |
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| Background Information |
The draft "Domestic Security Enhancement Act" contains a multitude of new and sweeping law enforcement and intelligence gathering powers -- many of which are not related to terrorism -- that would severely undermine basic constitutional rights and checks and balances. If adopted, the bill would diminish personal privacy by removing important checks on government surveillance authority, reduce the accountability of government to the public by increasing official secrecy and expand on the definition of "terrorism" in a manner that threatens the constitutionally protected rights of Americans.
These far reaching powers could apparently be sought even though the first USA Patriot Act already gave the government unprecedented powers to violate our civil liberties and tap deep into the private lives of innocent Americans.
Congress must not accept new legislation that threatens our constitutional rights in the name of security against terrorism. In fact, Congress should not only reject any new legislation, but it should instead insist that the Bush Administration stop stonewalling and outline how the new powers already given under the first USA PATRIOT Act have been used.
- The new legislation would allow government to spy on First Amendment-protected activities. By applying an overly broad definition of terrorism, organizations using protest tactics such as those used by Operation Rescue or protesters at Vieques Island, Puerto Rico would become victims of criminal wiretapping and other electronic surveillance. In addition, the act would terminate court-approved limits on police spying, which were initially put in place to prevent McCarthy-style law enforcement persecution based on political or religious affiliation.
- The new act would radically diminish personal privacy by removing checks on government power. It would permit, without any connection to anti-terrorism efforts, sensitive personal information about U.S. citizens to be shared with local and state law enforcement. In addition, the government could gain secret access to credit reports without consent and without judicial process.
- The new bill would increase government secrecy while diminishing public accountability. It would authorize secret arrests in immigration and other cases, such as those involving material witness warrants, where the detained person is not criminally charged. The act would allow for the sampling and cataloguing of innocent Americans' genetic information without court order and without consent. And, incredibly, the act would shelter federal agents engaged in illegal surveillance without a court order from criminal prosecution if they are following orders of high Executive Branch officials.
