much of PATRIOT is neutral legislation for civil liberties

[Dave Farber <dave () farber net>]

Delivered-To: dfarber+ () ux13 sp cs cmu edu
Date: Wed, 21 Jan 2004 15:40:40 -0800
From: "Kevin Bankston  @ EFF" <bankston () eff org>
Subject: [E-PRV] much of PATRIOT is neutral legislation for civil liberties
Sender: eff-priv-bounces () eff org
To: "Eff-Priv@Eff. Org" <eff-priv () eff org>

[Eugene Volokh, 1/21/2004 12:32:42 PM]
"Much of the Patriot Act is neutral legislation for civil liberties": Who
said that? Well, the executive director of the ACLU, Anthony Romero:
"While much of the Patriot Act is neutral legislation for civil liberties,
it contains about a dozen provisions that simply go too far," Romero added.
"These dangerous provisions increase the chances that innocent Americans
will be swept into terrorism investigations by removing traditional checks
and balances on law enforcement and oversight powers from the judiciary."
Obviously, the ACLU still has serious reservations about the Patriot Act --
a dozen bad provisions would still make for a bad law (though I personally
don't see a dozen bad provisions there). But the ACLU's acknowledgement that
much of the Act doesn't pose any civil liberties problems is noteworthy, I
think, given the vitriolic attacks that many have launched against the Act,
attacks that often didn't include such acknowledgments.

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