Patriot Act Provision Invoked

[MountainLaurel]

the subhead: FBI Request Came Weeks After Ashcroft Denied Using Controversial Part of Law

HEY LIBRARIANS . . . be sure to read this one in full. Looks like we're not so hysteric after all.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A50524-2004Jun17.html

The FBI asked the Justice Department last fall to seek permission from a secret federal court to use the most controversial provision of the USA Patriot Act, four weeks after Attorney General John D. Ashcroft said that part of the law had never been used, according to government documents disclosed this week.

A one-paragraph memo -- saying the FBI wanted to use the part of the law that allows investigators in terrorism and espionage cases easier access to people's business and library records -- was in a stack of documents the government has released under court order, as debate persists over whether use of the anti-terrorism law violates civil liberties.

The 383 pages of documents, many with names and other information blacked out, are the first results of a Freedom of Information Act request and lawsuit filed against the Justice Department by a coalition of civil rights groups. Last month, Ellen Segal Huvelle, a federal appeals court judge for the District, ordered the agency to release certain documents indicating how the FBI is carrying out the law. She denied the government's request to withhold such information for another year.

...snip...

The memo involves the provision at the core of that political debate. Until last September, Ashcroft had insisted that the government could not disclose how many times investigators had used the part of the law that allows his agency to get approval from an obscure secret body, the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) court, which requires less proof than other courts to authorize wiretaps and other surveillance. Ashcroft had repeatedly said that information was classified. But last September, he unexpectedly declassified a memo saying that the provision had never been used.

1984, here we come!

[bluestateguy]

1. I think Kerry should use the Patriot Act creatively if he wins

If the law is used to declare Operation Rescue and the Christian Coalition as "terrorist organizations" I think the Right will warm up to substantially amending the law.

[MountainLaurel]

2. Tee hee

And using the same logic that the FBI did in dragging in Muslims of all sorts after 9-11, if you said hello to Eric Rudolph in a grocery store in 1995, you'd be guilty of conspiracy. Imagine how many fundie churches would be decimated by all of the "thief in the night" detentions where not even family members know where their loved ones are.

Hmmmmm. . .

[GreenPartyVoter]

3. Tempting, to be sure. But I think we'll wind up taking the high road.