Patriots to Restore Checks and Balances (PRCB) is a network of individuals and organizations – conservatives and progressives -- that believes the threat of terrorism cannot be allowed to dissolve or erode the carefully constructed structural foundations for preserving our liberty, enshrined forever in the Constitution   For more information on the PRCB- http://www.checksbalances.org/index.php

In the 2 1/2-page resolution, the [George Mason University] faculty senate, joined by the local chapter of the American Association of University Professors, calls on university administrators to inform students if authorities seek their school records and to make sure students know that authorities can secretly view their library records, bookstore purchases and electronic communication.

(MORE at Washington Post)

End run around the Fourth

The Patriot Act blurred the key contrasts between foreign-intelligence-gathering and domestic law enforcement. Now, intelligence-gathering need not be the sole purpose of FISA-warrant-authorized surveillance.

Instead, as a result of Section 218 of the Patriot Act, intelligence-gathering need only be "a significant purpose" of FISA-authorized surveillance.

The result has been that not just CIA agents, but FBI agents as well -- or even state police, cooperating with the CIA and FBI -- have the ability to utilize FISA's secrecy and lower legal standards. No longer must they prove "probable cause" that a crime has been, or is being, committed -- as the Fourth Amendment requires.

Instead, all they have to prove is that foreign intelligence is a "significant" purpose of the surveillance. Another purpose can be domestic law enforcement.

As I pointed out in an earlier column, the result is to to open the door to an end run around Americans' Fourth Amendment rights. Unable even to see the basis for the secret FISA warrant that authorized a search of their home or business, Americans may not be able to challenge that warrant in a criminal proceeding.

...Section 215 of the PATRIOT Act is especially  troublesome, Eland argues, because it allows the Federal Bureau of Investigation to obtain a  search warrant from a secret intelligence court without having to present evidence that the subject is a spy or a terrorist -- the FBI need only "certify" to the court that the subject is part of a terrorism or espionage investigation....

The head of the American Conservative Union, David Keene, said he was upset that the administration appeared to be encouraging the Patriot Act provisions' renewal through the more secretive Senate Intelligence Committee, despite pledges of openness and of a willingness to consider compromise. ...

Keene is particularly upset with Atty. Gen. Gonzales, who has agreed in recent meetings with conservative activists, participants said, to the principle of open discussion and careful review of the Patriot Act before 16 of its most important provisions are renewed.

Lawmakers voted Wednesday to block the Justice Department and the FBI from using the Patriot Act to peek at library records and bookstore sales slips... The House voted 238-187.

 Lawmakers Approved Cosmetic, Not Substantive, Reforms

On October 26, 2001, President Bush signed the USA PATRIOT Act into law. Four years later, Congress is on the verge of reauthorizing all of the provisions scheduled to sunset, and plans to make only minor changes (see more information on our legislation page).

Now is the time to renew our opposition to the PATRIOT Act and other post-9/11 laws and policies that infringe on rights and liberties.

Rep. Bernard Sanders (I-VT) today led a bipartisan coalition of 163 members in urging the conference committee for the Patriot Act reauthorization bill to adopt Senate provisions that protect the privacy of Americans' reading records. The coalition released a letter today to the conference committee members who are preparing to meet to determine the final content of the Patriot Act reauthorization bill.

 The FBI has conducted clandestine surveillance on some U.S. residents for as long as 18 months at a time without proper paperwork or oversight, according to previously classified documents to be released today.

IN THE PAST FEW weeks there have been two significant disclosures concerning the rules that govern domestic spying, just as the House and the Senate are preparing to reconcile versions of a bill to reauthorize key provisions of the USA Patriot Act. The first was a release by the FBI of internal reports documenting violations of the rules of domestic surveillance in national security cases. The second was a story by Post staff writer Barton Gellman revealing that the number of "national security letters" -- a kind of administrative subpoena used by the FBI to obtain normally private records -- has exploded since the passage of the Patriot Act and now reaches 30,000 per year. These reports open a timely window onto the question that animates the debate over the Patriot Act: How responsibly is the government using its spying powers? Though they don't provide a complete answer, the new disclosures are troubling.

By Russ Feingold and John Sununu | November 9, 2005

We will make every effort -- and, if we have to, use procedural options at our disposal -- to oppose a final reauthorization bill that either strips out the meaningful changes made by the Senate bill or adds measures that ignore the public demands for more protection of our rights and freedoms. Our goal is not to derail reauthorization; it is to ensure that necessary changes to the Patriot Act are made as part of the reauthorization bill. We can -- and should -- provide law enforcement with the tools necessary to fight terrorism while protecting civil liberties at home.

Also currently nurturing the spirit of our heritage of independence and privacy is Steven Lilienthal, director of the Center for Privacy and Technology Policy at the Free Congress Foundation. He regularly sends me valuable news of present and prospective violations of privacy by government and other entities.

Writing in support of "constant review" of Patriot Act powers, Mr. Lilienthal emphasizes: "Many conservatives understand full well how future policymakers can take laws intended for an important reason -- combating terrorism -- and try applying those powers to other areas. Not only should the existing sunsets (clauses in the Patriot Act) be retained, they should be added to such far-reaching powers as the Section 213 delayed notification searches ('sneak and peek') that short-circuit the Fourth Amendment because (those powers) extend well beyond fighting terrorism." The Justice Department recently conceded that 88 percent of Section 213 search warrants have been executed in non-terrorism cases.

Fix the PATRIOT Act

Congress has one last chance to fix the PATRIOT Act, and the crucial vote is coming up soon. With your help, Russ collected thousands of signatures and convinced the Senate to pass a modified version of the act that would remove some of the worst infringements on our rights and freedoms. Now we need to make sure the Senate version is the one that becomes law.

I hereby affirm: I believe that the United States can vigorously fight terrorism while protecting the very freedoms that make us Americans. I believe that certain provisions of the USA PATRIOT Act go too far in curtailing our basic freedoms and must be fixed. I agree with Sen. Feingold's revisions that fix the most troubling parts of the act.

 Former Congressman Bob Barr today expressed deep disappointment in the Patriot Act deal reached by the Senate yesterday. Barr noted that the central problem with the existing law - the lack of any required link between records sought and a suspected terrorist, or citizen connected to a terrorist, before the government is able to invade an American’s private records - was not addressed. Making such a modest change to the Patriot Act would not in any way impair the government's ability to identify and prosecute terrorists or those who aid or abet them, but it would help protect the privacy of ordinary Americans.