The Patriot Act: The Purpose Of The Patriot Act

What the president did The Uniting and strengthening America by providing Appropriate Tools Required to intercept and Obstruct Terrorism Act of 2001 or simply put, The Patriot act was signed into law on October 26th, 2001. The purpose of the Patriot Act is to deter and punish terrorist threats domestically and aboard. The act strengthens law enforcement granting them the necessary tools and applications in order to detect and prosecute terrorists around the globe and domestically. The Patriot act has met much controversy in some of its many provisions, such as information sharing, roving wire tapping, and the Sneak and Peek Warrants just to name a few. At the heart of it, the patriot act violates certain constitutional amendments that should not have been violated by the executive. Nor should the branches of government been as passive and lazy as they been in time of crisis, and the American people should have been far angrier and less apathetic towards the Patriot act. Only a handful of sections within the Patriot act can be described as unconstitutional. The sections that are described as being unconstitutional go against the rights guaranteed in the first and fourth amendment. At first glance, …show more content…
Under the act, law enforcement seeks to become sort of preventative measure. It’s no longer acting retrospectively. By changing law from being retroactive to more proactive approach, government is no longer looking for criminals after the fact, but are now engaged in some sort of guessing game based upon predictions about what they individuals might do, and not what they have done. And according to Law Professor David Cole, many innocents will suffer without any gain in security, while sacrificing the most basic principles such as commitment to equal treatment, political freedoms, and the rule of