Patriot Act

Zeljak , C (2004 , May /June . The USA and Civil Liberties (Part II . Problems of transport Communism 51 , 69-71In her article , Cathy Zeljak maintains that the has infringed on Americans civil liberties , specially the Fourth Amendment s protections against guilty searches and watchfulness Using the recent narrative of legal decisions on law enforcement agencies information-gathering practices , the author argues that the strips citizens of the legal protections they reliable in the late 1970s . Throughout the piece , she asks , ar we sacrificing essential liberties in the fight against terrorism (Zeljak , 2004 ,. 69 , and her decide (the overriding thesis of this article ) is yesZeljak argues that the undermines both the Fourth Amendment and the foreign Intelligence Surveillance (FISA ) Act , which was passed in 1978 to impose guidelines on political sympathies surveillance of private citizens . Before then , authorities surveillance of citizens lacked correct guidelines , and government agencies behaved arbitrarily as a result Supposed threats like antiwar activists and civil-rights leaders like Martin Luther top executive , were frequently monitored and harassed . The FISA Act aimed to curb these abuses and placed more(prenominal) legal guidelines on federal surveillance , requiring that foreign tidings had to be a primary cause for issuing a warrant to conduct surveillance on an case-by-caseHowever , the has removed numerous of the FISA Act s protections , now allowing warrants to be issued with foreign intelligence purposes as only a tangential reason , not a primary cause In addition , law enforcement officials whitethorn now seize a wider array of records , using the wide definition any tangible thing (Zeljak 2004 ,. 70 ) sort of of the narrow lists specified by the FISA Act .

The also allows government agencies to spy on innocent third parties as a means of obtaining information about primary suspects further change the Fourth Amendment s protections , and it allows agencies to share information more freely , without let accused individuals known what evidence exists against themIn March 2002 , FISC rejected privy Ashcroft s proposals to allow law enforcement officials broader access to (and use of ) information self-contained under the . In effect , says Zeljak , this transferred fundamental rights away from individual citizens , greatly increasing the authority of intelligence and investigative agencies (Zeljak , 2004 ,. 70 . FISA warrants can thus be used for criminal investigations without clear probable causeZeljak also claims that , despite two court defeats on this issue , the Bush administration hopes to further expand its surveillance and prosecutory powers with II , which would automatically grant federal agents who conduct illegal searches complete immunity and allow the government to deport American citizens found guilty of helping terrorist organizations . Basically , she maintains , such an enlargement of the would allow the government near-investigations with few legal guidelines , and would considerably lop citizens protections and civil liberties . Zeljak concludes the article by stating that Americans must wonder whether we are sacrificing essential liberties in the fight against terrorism and ends with a exciting question : . have the...If you want to get a practiced essay, order it on our website: Orderessay

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