Forty-five days after 9/11 and with little debate, President Bush signed into law the USA Patriot Act of 2001 which authorized the use of wartime procedures to capture and prosecute terrorists. In such haste, many lawmakers admitted they did not even read the bill’s text before voting for its passage. This law reversed many of the restrictions we imposed on our government after it was caught spying on private citizens and political groups in the 1970s. The Patriot Act suspends many of the civil liberties basic to our democracy. It allows the use of military tribunals, racial profiling, and indefinite incarceration without due process or evidence of wrongdoing. It also allows law enforcement agencies, with little oversight, to seize bank telephone and e-mail records for counterterrorism investigations.

Disclosures by former NSA contractor Eric Snowden reveal the NSA has used the Patriot Act to justify the eavesdropping and collection of private communications between many millions of law-abiding Americans. Earlier, a New York federal appeals court judge ruled NSA’s systematic collection of Americans’ phone records is illegal, saying the program "exceeds the scope of what Congress authorized." A Justice Dept. report stated the FBI cannot produce a single example of this surveillance program being responsible for foiling a terrorist plot. The Patriot Act was due to sunset, or expire, in 2005 but until recently, it had been continuously reauthorized. Absent of Congressional action, the Patriot Act itself actually did expire in 2020, but much of the Act remains permanent - including 11 sections of Title II, which gives our government more authority to surveil, monitor and investigate Americans with fewer checks on abuse.

Patriot Act supporters say we must choose between civil liberties and fighting terrorism, a choice of being either inconvenienced or unsafe. They believe the best way to prevent future NSA abuse is to strengthen congressional oversight over this agency. Opponents say this law puts at risk the personal freedoms and rights embodied in the Constitution which, in the past, we have gone to war to protect. They wish to repeal the Patriot Act saying it is unnecessary because our usual civil procedures are capable of identifying, prosecuting and punishing terrorists. The Patriot Act itself actually expired in 2020, but without Congressional action, much of the Act will remain permanent, including 11 sections of Title II. Title II is the main vehicle which permits authorities more authority to surveil, monitor and investigate Americans with fewer checks on abuse.

Proposed Legislation: Reintroduction of H.R.1466 - Surveillance State Repeal Act (114th Congress 2015-2016)
Prospective Sponsor: Rep. Mark Pocan (WI)