Blackmoor Vituperative

In a surprising show of nigh-marginal intelligence and vague cognizance of the Constitution, the U.S. Congress may consider “minor modifications” to some of the more profoundly anti-American aspects of the perversely-named “USA Patriot Act”.

Congress is taking a second look at the FBI’s power to seize confidential customer records from businesses without showing probable cause in a state or federal court. The controversial tactic has been the target of intense criticism since the passage of the USA Patriot Act in 2001, and even the U.S. Department of Justice concedes that maybe it goes too far….

Hotels, apartment-building owners and ISPs are among the businesses that the FBI ordered to turn over records without demonstrating evidence that subjects were involved in crime. Under Section 215 of the Patriot Act, the government merely has to state that records are sought in an investigation related to terrorism, and the secret Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court will authorize the search.

One reason that none of these businesses has joined the growing chorus against the Patriot Act is that the law forbids them from ever mentioning this kind of FBI order to anyone, even a lawyer. It also prohibits them from challenging the order in court.

US Attorney General Alberto Gonzales is prepared to fight tooth and nail to retain the USA Patriot Act in all of its brutally unjust glory. Fortunately for us, we have bold defenders of freedom like Senators Larry Craig (Idaho) and Richard Durbin (Illinois), who introduced legislation that would require the FBI to show suspicion about individuals before ordering records from businesses under Section 215.

Suspicion. Not evidence, merely suspicion. The sad thing is that this would be an improvement over the law as it exists.

It is a great pity that there is no penalty for lawmakers who pass unConstitutional laws. Every single member of Congress who voted for this abomination should be in prison. That won’t happen, of course. Prisons are reserved for truly dangerous threats to society, like people who smoke marijuana on the weekend, or people who make copies of thirty-year-old music recordings.