The Patriot Act: A Need For Change

Improved Essays
The Patriot Act: A Need For Change
The United States Constitution states, “The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause” (Cornell University Law School). These are the rights given by the constitution. America is seen as the land of the free. It is a place where the government is by and for the people, where people’s rights shall be preserved and secured. This image was quickly changed after September 11, 2001, when terrorists crashed planes into the World Trade Center. This created mass panic among the American citizens, as they all felt vulnerable and afraid. In order to stop such an attack from ever happening again, the United States
…show more content…
The Patriot Act “ allows investigators to use tools[...] already available to investigate organized crime and drug trafficking, [... facilitate] information sharing and cooperation among government agencies, [... update] the law to reflect new technologies and new threats, [… and increase] the penalties for those who commit

Related Documents

  • Improved Essays

    The Nsc-68

    • 739 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Many Americans feel as though the Patriot Act interferes with our 1st and 4th amendments; which are the right to free speech and expression, as well as protecting the citizens of unwarranted search and seizures. The authority given to the government to violate individual privacy crosses the boundaries set in the Constitution. The U.S. Constitution (specifically the Bill of Rights) guarantees every American certain Individual rights. Several critics have claimed that the United States of America no longer protects these rights. From the government’s warrantless wiretapping, obtaining personal info from NSL’s or National Security Letters, emails, and phone records or unconstitutional surveillance of the citizens of the USA, free thinking, speech, and typical American lifestyle cannot…

    • 739 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Patriot Act Dbq

    • 967 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Following the attacks that occurred on 9/11, the United States government established the Patriot Act. The Patriot Act was put into place to ensure the safety of the citizens of the United States by enhancing the security of the country. The act revised the nation’s surveillance laws, expanding the government’s authority to look into the records of citizens. This law also reduced the judicial oversight, public accountability and the ability to challenge government searches in court. These alterations and additions to the surveillance of the United States was said to ensure the safety of the people from ever having to experience any terrorist attack like the one that happened on 9/11.…

    • 967 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    By taking a closer look at these titles, American citizens are able to gain a deeper understand of the new powers that have been vested in various government entities. Increased surveillance and investigation capabilities are not the impetus for the Act, they are merely the tools used to ensure the continued safety of the American public. 12. Checks and Balances in Place The Patriot Act contains all of the same checks and balances that the American public has grown accustomed to seeing in their government documents.…

    • 896 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The “ Justification in Punishment” known as the intolerable acts created an exasperated state of being for the colonists. The Intolerable Acts consisted of five different laws. The first one was the Vice Admiralty Courts, this allowed the ruler of England to pick the location of the trials, and make sure it is judged fairly. Secondly, the Massachusetts Bay Regulating Act banned all town meetings and allowed England to govern the colony. The Boston Port Act was in result of the Boston Tea Party, where 342 chests of tea were dumped into the port.…

    • 840 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Al Gore (former Vice President of the United States) believes the Patriot Act takes away American Freedoms that once made this country great. “The Patriot Act allows the government to intrude on our privacy and violate the United States constitution” (Al Gore). In other times of Crisis, laws like this were taken away later after realizing they violated our constitutional rights. This isn’t the case with the Patriot Act because it gives the government more power over us then they need. “The Patriot Act allows law enforcement agencies such as the FBI and CIA to legally perform physical searches of homes or headquarters, these agencies may tap phones, monitor Internet use and e-mail, use electronic eavesdropping devices, and inspect suspects' financial, credit card, student, employment, and other records, without probable cause or proper warrants” (The PATRIOT Act and the Fourth Amendment).…

    • 1465 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Patriot Act Dbq Essay

    • 431 Words
    • 2 Pages

    An act where the government can provide higher security for our country. An act that further protects Americans. The Patriot act strengthens and improves America by providing the appropriate tools to intercept terrorism in America. Providing America with the maximum security and doing everything to protect us from events such as 9/11 from happening again, is the governments goal with placing the Patriot Act.…

    • 431 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    They can’t just take a person’s records without a reason. Having the Patriot Act enables our country to be safer, especially with all the other terrorist attacks that have been happening all over the world, like the Berlin Bombings and the Paris Shootings. The Patriot Act also gives the public the reassurance that the government is doing something to try and keep them safe. As a result of all the surveillance there have been some minor terrorism acts that have been uncovered, and it works as a fear mechanism to scare the terrorists. Although the PATRIOT was created to keep the US safe, the intelligence agencies have abused their power on the fact that there are loopholes in the bill.…

    • 1623 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Ever since the incident on September 11, 2001 we had an act that was passed in haste only 45 days after the attack. We had an act that was passed by George W Bush in a time of fear and unease . Even though we 're trying to protect American liberties from enemies, it is wrong to take away individual rights. One act before the patriot act was Electronic Communications Privacy Act of 1968 Also called “Wiretap Statute” which restricted the government 's ability to listen to private conversation, both was controversial because it was signed in 1968 and we did not have the technology we had back then like laptops and cell phones which could be used in very bad ways to hurt or even worse kill people (Patriot)But it also could be a burden for the innocent people who have the government listen on to their private conversations which would take away their constitutional right to privacy. So too little of not listing and to much of listening in on peoples conversations is a bad thing, that 's why we should find a balance between the two so we don 't change the principles we have as a country .…

    • 1025 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Before agencies were not allowed to share information and then the act was made into law and the agencies were allowed to share information regarding suspects. The US Patriot Act has three basic ares on trying to control counterfeit money, first expand the authority of the secretary of the treasury to regulate the U.S. financial institutes, such as require businesses to report cash transactions larger then 10,000 dollars (100). Second, create new crimes to control money laundering and enhanced punishment (100). Third, the act modified the ways forfeitures could be carried out and granted the government greater power to confiscate the property of anyone thought to support, plan, aid, authorize, or participate in an act of domestic or international terrorism (100). The Patriot Act allows border protection to use new ways for dealing with the potential for terrorism and raise the cap and allowing them to hire more border patrol agents…

    • 1002 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    4th Amendment Essay

    • 510 Words
    • 3 Pages

    With this, the government can go through any source of information and violate people’s privacy. For these reasons, the Patriot Act violated the Fourth and First Amendments by the government not showing a warrant of why they are searching the private properties and not notifying others about the information of those search warrants, where no secrecy is even necessary. This act was one of the most serious issues for the country because it violated people’s privacy and breached the First and Fourth…

    • 510 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    government has used a relaxed approach to the Fourth Amendment. After September 11th, 2001, Congress enabled the Patriot Act in order to prevent future attacks from terrorists and protect the United States from other threats. The Patriot Act, as the Department of Justice states, provides “law enforcement with new tools to detect and prevent terrorism” (the U.S. Patriot Act: Preserving Life and Liberty) allowing them to access the information that is necessary for terrorist investigations and making it easier to prevent attacks. The Patriot Act also states that law enforcement is authorized to “obtain a search warrant anywhere a terrorist-related activity occurred”, which means that if there is evidence of terrorist activity, law enforcement is able to investigate. This involves the examination of personal records such as phone records and other personal records.…

    • 1215 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    According to the American Civil Liberties Union “The Patriot Act increases the Government 's power to obtain information from wiretapping and surveillance. ”(www. ACLU.org) The Patriot Act was developed to keep the citizens of America more safe from terrorist attacks. There is also a disadvantage of this Act because this an infringement of the Fourth Amendment.…

    • 1280 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The Patriot Act is an act that was created by Congress. It was signed into law by former President George W. Bush on October 26th, 2001. The overall goal of The Patriot Act was to strengthen the powers of higher law enforcement agencies to combat terrorism.…

    • 1730 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    While many find government surveillance techniques violating of civil rights, others stand for the personal and national security it provides in efforts to hinder tragedies. In response to the 9/11 terrorist attack, Congress quickly passed the USA Patriot Act to enhance government surveillance and deter terrorist activity. The Patriot Act targeted foreign communications and domestic cellular data recipients. Arguments arose concerning the domestic surveillance segment of this act, ultimately challenging its Fourth Amendment constitutionality. The Patriot Act is a prime example of how legislation has limited American citizen’s Fourth Amendment rights, proving the little ethics and constitutionality behind government surveillance.…

    • 387 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Great Essays

    The Importance Of The NSA

    • 1376 Words
    • 6 Pages

    President? The United States was blind-sighted in the September 11, 2001 terrorist attack which resulted in the death of 2,977 innocent Americans. This was the largest attack in the history of the U.S. on our soil and although the signs were there for the intelligence community to see, it was mistakenly not put together. Much of the attack stemmed from communications between terrorist or those connected and working with terrorist within our Country, and this was unacceptable. In order to defend against such communications, according to Lichtblau & Risen (2005), “Under a presidential order signed in 2002, the intelligence agency has monitored the international telephone calls and international e-mail messages of hundreds, perhaps thousands, of people inside the United States without warrants over the past three years in an effort to track possible ‘dirty numbers’ linked to Al Qaeda, the officials said. The agency, they said, still seeks warrants to monitor entirely domestic communications”.…

    • 1376 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Great Essays