|
Contact:
Christy Hicks, 212-452-7723
Rethinking the Patriot Act: A New Report from the Century Foundation Provides
Context for the Current Reauthorization Debate
New York City, June 9, 2005 —One of the most controversial and possibly
one of the most misunderstood laws Congress has ever enacted, the USA Patriot
Act remains at the forefront of public debate about security and civil liberties.
For many Americans, it is synonymous with an egregious and unjustifiable suspension
of the Bill of Rights. Others, troubled but more cautious, identify the Patriot
Act with the grant of unprecedented powers that put civil liberties at some
risk. Many who reject these concerns nonetheless accept their underlying assumption-that
the Patriot Act does indeed give the federal government a package of powerful
new search and surveillance tools.
As Congress considers whether to extend or expand several provisions of the
Patriot Act, law professor Stephen J. Schulhofer has written a report for The
Century Foundation that provides a context for that reexamination. In Rethinking
the Patriot Act: Keeping America Safe and Free, Schulhofer explains the
act's most important provisions and reviews the best information currently available
to gauge their usefulness and their effects in practice. Contrary to conventional
wisdom, Schulhofer argues, much of the Patriot Act was essential, and some of
it, if not essential, was reasonably defensible. In fact, the act includes provisions-seldom
noticed-that add new protections for certain civil liberties, extend new benefits
to certain immigrant groups, and provide new remedies for violations of individual
rights. Nonetheless, Schulhofer concludes, many of the act's new powers are
far too broad, and even where the case for broad powers is strong, they were
typically conferred with little effort to assure transparency and accountability.
"Whatever its defects, the Patriot Act is more complex and more protective
of basic liberty than many of its detractors acknowledge," said Schulhofer.
"The flaws however are basic. They threaten fundamental liberties, needlessly
expand dangerous powers, and in practice interfere with effective measures to
thwart terrorism. We can and must do better," he added.
Schulhofer concludes in the report that going forward, any changes to the Patriot
Act should follow two rules. First, in responding to extraordinary threats to
our security, we must ensure that the extraordinary powers we grant are narrowly
tailored. Second, we must take care to guarantee maximum feasible accountability.
He writes that secrecy and the absence of accountability are troublesome not
just because they risk unnecessary invasions of liberty and privacy, but also
because they are a recipe for wasted effort, misdirected resources, and misuse
of legitimately acquired information for illegitimate purposes. Noting that
our government's current acceptance of secrecy and unchecked law enforcement
power sows alienation and mistrust, Schulhofer points out that our security
depends on building confidence here and around the globe, not only that American
is strong, but that American is fair, a society in which our government practices
what it preaches in terms of human rights, treats all people with decency, and
respects the rule of law.
Stephen J. Schulhofer is the Robert B. McKay Professor of Law at New York University
Law School. From 1986 until 2000, he was director of the Center for Studies
in Criminal Justice at the University of Chicago, where he was the Julius Kreeger
Professor of Law, and he served for many years as a consultant to the United
States Sentencing Commission. He is the author of The Enemy Within: Intelligence
Gathering, Law Enforcement, and Civil Liberties in the Wake of September 11
(The Century Foundation Press, 2002).
This report is part of The Century Foundation's Homeland security Project,
which is aimed at informing the public and the policy-making community about
the complex challenges reated to preventing and responding to domestic terrorism.
The Homeland Security Project is chaired by Thomas Kean former governor of New
Jersey and 9/11 Commission chair, and Richard Celeste, former U.S. Ambassador
and governor of Ohio. The project has received generous support from the John
D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation,
the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, and the Carnegie Corporation. More information
on the project is available at www.tcf.org
and www.homelandsec.org.
The Century Foundation conducts public policy research and analyses of economic,
social, and foreign policy issues, including inequality, retirement security,
election reform, media studies, homeland security, and international affairs.
The foundation produces books, reports, and other publications, convenes task
forces, and working groups and operates seven informational Web sites. With
offices in New York City and Washington, D.C., The Century Foundation is nonprofit
and nonpartisan and was founded in 1919 by Edward A. Filene.
For more information or media copies of the report, contact Christy Hicks at
hicks@tcf.org or (212) 452-7723.
Rethinking the Patriot Act: Keeping America Safe and Free
By Stephen J. Schulhofer
The Century Foundation Press
ISBN: 0-87078-495-1; 163 pages, paper
To Order: 1-800-552-5450
In Washington, D.C.: 202-797-6258
# # #
|
