Patriot Act Pros And Cons

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September 11, 2001, the day terrorism exploded. Across the country a terrorist group called al-Qaeda coordinated four separate attacks against the U.S. in just one day. The attacks left nearly 3,000 dead and double that amount injured. The American government had to respond in some way. Thus, The USA Patriot Act was born. However, in accordance to the U.S. Constitution, the act doesn’t quite fit the bill. The Patriot Act enables unconstitutional and unethical encroachment upon American citizens. Within this essay I will explain the Patriot Act and apply certain amendments to it in an effort to evaluate its level of constitutionality. On October 26, 2001 George W. Bush signed into law The USA Patriot Act. The title for this act is actually …show more content…

However, are we really allowed to speak freely if anything we say will be taken into consideration for whether or not they should see us as a national threat and investigate further? Once again we see another fundamental right of the American government being infringed upon. That is the freedom of speech, a right that we as a country fought for decades for. Citizens cannot just allow for the government to take away this right and wrongfully justify their doing so. This explains the biggest problem and restriction citizens face with the Patriot Act. With their freedom of speech being limited, those opposed to the act are too intimidated by the government’s power to put them on a list for opposing their authority. After all, the government can’t have anyone questioning their new found abilities. The FBI has previously violated the first amendment by withholding information including the amount of times searches had been conducted due to a citizen exercising their right of free speech. This is the exact reason for the initial creation of checks and balances in the U.S. Constitution; to not only limit individual branches of the government, but to also limit the entirety of the government’s power over its citizens. America does not need such characteristics of a dictatorship to sustain national

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