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AAI in the News

Groups Air Worries About Civil Liberties

By Rebecca Carr
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Posted on Wednesday November 19, 2003

WASHINGTON—An array of civil liberties groups criticized the Patriot Act on Tuesday, saying the legislation violates constitutional protections and is cloaked in “an aura of secrecy.”

But most of the groups testifying before the Senate Judiciary Committee also conceded that the government’s most controversial actions in its war on terrorism do not actually stem from the Patriot Act.

“The phrase ‘the Patriot Act’ has become a symbol or a shorthand reference to the government’s response to terrorism” since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on New York and Washington, said James Dempsey, executive director of the Center for Democracy and Technology, a Washington-based nonprofit dedicated to promoting civil liberties in digital communications.

“Many of the worst civil liberties abuses since 9/11 have occurred outside the Patriot Act.”

For example, it was President Bush’s decision to hold Jose Padilla, a U.S. citizen accused of plotting with the al-Qaida terrorist network to detonate a radioactive bomb in the United States, as an enemy combatant in a military jail without access to an attorney or his family. Yet the Patriot Act is often cited as the reason for Padilla’s status, Dempsey said.

Lawmakers from both sides of the political aisle agreed that much of the criticism leveled at the legislation goes beyond what is actually contained in the law.

“An awful lot of criticism is not in the Patriot Act; in fact, it has nothing to do with the Patriot Act,” said Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah), chairman of the Judiciary Committee.

But critics, including conservatives such as former Georgia Republican Rep. Bob Barr and liberal-leaning voices like the American Civil Liberties Union, argue that the legislation needs to be amended to avoid infringing on guarantees provided in the Constitution.

The act contains provisions that permit notification of property searches to be delayed and allow law enforcement agencies to obtain an array of records that civil liberties groups contend should remain private.

The “aura of secrecy” surrounding the government’s use of the law makes it difficult to cite specific examples of abuse, said Barr, now a fellow at the American Conservative Union, a nonprofit civil liberties group based in Virginia.

“The Constitution and its Bill of Rights have taken some hits in the two years since 9/11,” Barr said, “Hits that must be fixed.”
Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), too, said he was concerned by government secrecy surrounding the legislation.

“The administration has attempted to defend its unprecedented levels of secrecy and unaccountability by repeatedly citing 9/11 and terrorism,” Leahy said. “But their own actions threaten to erode the very liberty and democracy that terrorists are attacking.”

James Zogby, president of the Arab American Institute, a nonprofit civil liberties group based in Washington, said the Justice Department had gone beyond the provisions of the Patriot Act.

“John Ashcroft’s Justice Department has unleashed a series of high-profile initiatives that explicitly target Arabs and Muslims and have resulted in the detention of thousands of people,” Zogby said.

Former Justice Department officials countered the criticism, testifying that the Patriot Act had given law enforcement powerful tools to hunt down terrorists and prevent another terrorist attack in America.

“The Patriot Act enables terrorism investigators to move more nimbly and expeditiously,” testified Robert Cleary, former U.S. attorney for the District of New Jersey, who supervised part of the investigation of the Sept. 11 attacks.