FISA Pros And Cons

Laws were established with the endeavor to maintain peace and protection among society and provide ways to steadfastness matters. Laws exist to protect people from one another, to protect themselves, and to protect the government from detriment, to promote certain values and to provide goods and services. “As expected, September 11 has prompted an expansion of law enforcement powers at almost every level. The domain of individual rights has contracted.” (Schulhofer, Stephen). This assertion is regarded from a small population who views certain laws that have been recognized as destroying our freedom in order to defend it. The majority has opposing sentiments, feeling that if individuals have nothing to hide, there is no worry about the civil liberties impact of the new laws since there established to defend it. Act’s such as Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978 (FISA), Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act of 1996 (AEDPA), and …show more content…
The FISA was signed into law by former President Jimmy Carter. This Act began the legality of domestic intelligence activities, with oversight of covert surveillance activities of foreign entities and individuals in the United States, while maintaining the secrecy needed to protect national security. This act was not implanted to conduct surveillance of the citizens of the United States. In order to use it the government must show probable cause that the objective of the surveillance is a foreign power or agent of a foreign power. During this time FISA wasn’t considered a law enforcement tool, with its strict restrictions surveillance couldn’t be conducted to gather evidence for criminal investigations without the Fourth Amendment possibly being violated. Who would have known that events in the future, would allow the limitations of FISA to expand to its full