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Palm Beach Post Editorial - July 16, 2004 Shelving civil liberties By the sheerest coincidence, five days after the House of Representatives broke its rules to save a portion of the Patriot Act, Attorney General John Ashcroft produced a report that he said demonstrated the effectiveness of the Patriot Act. In fact, many of the more than 300 people whom the government has charged under the law -- which Congress passed in the wake of the 9/11 attacks -- were guilty only of immigration violations and presented no terrorist threat. While most people support key parts of the Patriot Act, such as new powers for law enforcement to tap wireless calls and e-mails of legitimate terrorism suspects, lawmakers from both parties favor changes that would keep the government from needlessly and dangerously infringing on civil liberties. Take, say, which books you check out from the library or buy at Barnes & Noble. Under the Patriot Act, the government can search records based on reading habits. Given Mr. Ashcroft's tendency toward excess, an overzealous sweep could pick up students working on term papers about terrorism or retirees who want to know more about Osama bin Laden or militant Islam. Yet Mr. Ashcroft, who has yet to convict a real terrorist, and the Bush administration act as though any change to the Patriot Act would amount to putting bin Laden's face on the dollar bill. Last week, the House considered a defense spending amendment that would have removed libraries from being "treated as a wire or electronic communication service provider" under the Patriot Act. That well-known subversive group, the American Library Association, favored it. After the legal 15-minute period for a roll-call vote, the tally was 213-207 in favor. The GOP leadership, however, illegally held open the voting for 20 minutes until it muscled enough votes for a 210-210 tie, meaning the amendment failed. South Florida Democrats Alcee Hastings and Peter Deutsch were campaigning in Europe and Florida and missed the vote. President Bush insinuates that any criticism of his anti-terrorism policy amounts to support for terrorists. If criticism of the Patriot Act amounts to unpatriotic talk, there are lots of turncoats in Congress.
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