I've said before that I see no reason to oppose the PATRIOT Act in it's current state, and that is still true. That being said, the AP is reporting, according to an anonymous source, that the Senate Intelligence Commitee is trying to change PATRIOT to allow the FBI to issue subpoena's, without the approval of a judge, "for quickly obtaining records, electronic data or other evidence in terrorism investigations, according to aides for the GOP majority on the committee who briefed reporters Wednesday." This action would be forbidden by the Constitution.
The line that cannot be crossed here is the 'warrantless subpoena'. The Constitution requires that a warrant must be issued in order to justify the search, or seizure. Technically, a warrant cannot be called such, unless a Judge, or Grand Jury oversees the process. Otherwise calling for the search or seizure, could not be called "reasonable". If this modification of the PATRIOT Act, occurs, it would negate the safeguards put in place by the Fourth Amendment of the Constitution.
GOP Aides Say New Patriot Act Obliges Bush - Yahoo! News
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment