EDITORIAL – It’s time to dismantle the PATRIOT Act

Until yesterday, the government could see who you were calling, which Web sites you were… Until yesterday, the government could see who you were calling, which Web sites you were surfing, the text messages you were sending — and all without ever having to tell anyone, even a court, about it.

A U.S. District Court struck down part of the USA PATRIOT Act — that omnibus bill that seems to give the executive branch unlimited power. Judge Victor Marrero ruled for the American Civil Liberties Union, striking a part of the PATRIOT Act that allowed the Federal Bureau of Investigation to demand secret customer communication records, including records from phone companies and Internet service providers.

In short, the U.S. Court ruled for the ACLU, against the FBI, about the PATRIOT Act, concerning ISPs. Now that’s some alphabet soup.

These customer records should remain secret unless a court licenses their release. The FBI, as a part of the executive branch — that’s the one controlled by the president for all the government non-buffs — shouldn’t have the power to access them without a means of judicial check.

Under the PATRIOT Act, these searches could not only take place — without any means of judicial challenge — but the FBI could also deny that such a search took place. That this was allowable is patently unpatriotic; it’s against the Constitution’s protection from unreasonable search and seizure.

We need look no farther than the Fourth Amendment: “The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches … no warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause … particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.”

It’s not an amendment we hear as often as the First or Second, but it’s worth knowing, especially when the executive branch of the government seems to have forgotten it. And in light of the Fourth Amendment, it doesn’t take a constitutional scholar to figure out that searches that disable the judicial branch’s ability to do its job are unconstitutional.

Judge Marrero is the true patriot here, not Attorney General John Ashcroft, who’s already said he plans to appeal this decision. The judge recognizes that the PATRIOT Act was passed at a time when Americans wanted decisive action — some protection from an amorphous and terrifying threat — but it was passed without review or proper consideration.

It’s time to dismantle the PATRIOT Act. At best, it’s a pernicious piece of legislation; at worst it’s legalized McCarthyism, giving the FBI free license to violate the Constitution it’s sworn to uphold.