THE PATRIOT ACT!

1. THE PATRIOT ACT! By Chris Marchetti

2. About the Act • Made after the Sept. 11 attack • Most Congressmen approved the Act virtually as it came to both houses. • Senate – 98-1 • House- 357-66 • The Act was officially signed by George W. Bush on October 26, 2001 • The Act includes wire tapping phones and searching and seizing a without a warrant if you are suspicious of a terrorist activity. • Because of this, there have been many court cases where the Act is said to violate the Constitution.

3. Proposed Law to affect the Patriot Act • The proposed law that I proposed regarding the Patriot Act is that some of the laws referring to the Patriot Act should be limited or eliminated. These laws include not needing a search warrant in times of terrorism, wire tapping onto phones, and also making things that are usually secret in the Patriot Act available to the public.

4. Supporting individual’s rights and the common good. Individual’s rights The Common Good

5. Court Cases #1 • Holder v. Humanitarian Law Project- Human Rights and peace activists worked with members of the Kurdistan Workers Party and the Liberian Tigers of Tamil Elam in 1997, but the U.S. officially listed them as terror groups, and then after Sept. 11 broadened the material search and arrested them for supporting terrorists. The Law Project filed a suit saying that this violated their rights. The Court Ruling was that the Supreme Court ruled in favor of the Humanitarian Law Project’s suit by a 6-3 vote. The precedent was that there were now rising questions regarding the Patriot Act. • My proposed law allows peaceful meetings with groups, whether suspected as terrorists or not • The violations for conspiring with terrorists will be reduced. • Materials that are used must be approved by a judge.

6. Court Case #2 • Doe v. Holder- FBI was secretly spying on an unknown person, John Doe. When the FBI was spying on Doe, they didn’t use a warrant regarding this, but the FBI said it was legal by the Patriot Act. Also when Doe went to trial, there were secret information that was being withheld at trial, but again the FBI said it was legal by the Patriot Act. The Supreme Court listened to this case, but there wasn’t anything that was resolved from this case. This also brings further questions on the government. • A search warrant has to be present when you’re at trial, but not when you search a residence or private property • All evidence provided, no matter how secret, must be present in the court of law. • You have to know the right that’s violated in the midst of terrorism

7. Current Events • New York Times Article • talking about how the majority of the House and Senate approved of extensions about this law even though that there are problems about the Patriot Act. • These extensions may violate the Constitution • Many people are worried that the extensions will violate their rights • With my law, these laws will not unknowingly violate the constitution

8. More Current Events • People’s opinion, • there is an article of where two journalists state their opinions about whether he government is abusing the Patriot Act. • One of the journalists believe that the Patriot Act violates the constitution because they violate rights that some people don’t know about. • The other journalist believes that they don’t because of the fact that there are that laws that go against terrorism • With my proposed law, the laws that violates the rights of the people are taken out.

9. The End!!!