Patriot Act

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The USA PATRIOTACT and GovernmentActions that ThreatenOur Civil Liberties |

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Zakiya DuvallENG/147 1/26/15Michael Beneszewski |

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The USA PATRIOT ACT and Government Actions that Threaten Our Civil Liberties

On September 11, 2011 a great tragedy struck our nation. This devastating day is what we all now know as 9/11. This tragedy started a domino effect of changes the government began to make to help “protect us” from future attacks; they call it the War on Terror. Since it has begun it has enacted many policies that violate its citizens civil liberties, they passed the Patriot Act, detained people unlawfully in Guantanamo Bay, and have committed unwarranted surveillance.

With rush and secrecy and in the name of the “war on terrorism,” Congress passed legislation that gives the Executive Branch new powers that undermine the Bill of Rights and are unnecessary to keep us safe, The USA Patriot Act is an act of Congress signed into law after 9/11. It is a10 letter acronym that stands for Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism Act of 2001. It contains clauses that directly violate laws set out in the Bill of Rights. The Act does away with the usual checks and balances that the founding fathers based our country upon and thought were vital to maintaining government control. The American Civil Liberties Union says the law is a double failure because it doesn’t increase security and doesn’t protect privacy. Some may argue that protecting one’s rights might mean the violation of another’s but then where do citizens draw the line. This act was used to help capture people unlawfully being held in Guantanamo Bay.

The Government didn’t just violate its citizen’s right, but they held them against their will at Guantanamo Bay a U.S. war prison. Since opening in 2002 over 800 prisoners have passed those gates. They call it an “island outside the law” a place, where people suspected of...