Patriot Act violates First, Fourth, Fifth, Sixth, Eighth and Fourteenth Amendments to Constitution

Kucinich On The PATRIOT Act Reauthorization

Washington, Jul 21 - Congressman Dennis J. Kucinich (D-OH) issued the following statement on the PATRIOT Act Reauthorization bill before the House of Representatives today:

“Today, the House of Representatives is turning back the clock on over 200 years of progress in the protection of civil liberties in this nation.

“The PATRIOT Act Reauthorization bill threatens the civil liberties of every citizen of this nation, and is a full frontal assault on the Bill of Rights and our Constitution. Like every other Member of Congress I take an oath to uphold the Constitution of the United States of America, to vote for this bill would violate this sacred oath. This bill violates the First, Fourth, Fifth, Sixth, Eighth and Fourteenth Amendments to our Constitution.

“To reauthorize this bill permits the government to continue to conduct criminal investigations without probable cause, to conduct secret searches, to gain wide powers of phone and internet surveillance, and access highly personal medical, financial, mental health, and student records with minimal judicial oversight. Because of the PATRIOT Act, non-citizens can be jailed based on mere suspicion and be denied re-admission to the United States for engaging in free speech. Suspects convicted of no crime may be detained indefinitely in 6-month increments without meaningful judicial review.

“America can and must be both safe and free. The USA PATRIOT Act Reauthorization bill fails to protect citizens, fails the Constitution of the United States and fails this great nation.”

http://kucinich.house.gov/News/Docu...

Democrats author 70-page dissent on Patriot Act reauthorization

There is little doubt that the legislation has been repeatedly and seriously misused by the Justice Department. Consider the following:

• It has been used more than 150 times to secretly search an individual’s home, with nearly 90% of those cases having had nothing to do with terrorism.

• It was used against Brandon Mayfield, an innocent Muslim American, to tap his phones, seize his property, copy his computer files, spy on his children, and take his DNA, all without his knowledge.

• It has been used to deny, on account of his political beliefs, the admission to the United States of a Swiss citizen and prominent Muslim Scholar to teach at Notre Dame University.

• It has been used to unconstitutionally coerce an Internet Service Provider to divulge information about e-mail activity and web surfing on its system, and then to gag that Provider from even disclosing the abuse to the public.

• Because of gag restrictions, we will never know how many times it has been used to obtain reading records from library and bookstores, but we do know that libraries have been solicited by the Department of Justice - voluntarily or under threat of the PATRIOT Act - for reader information on more than 200 occasions since September 11.

• It has been used to charge, detain and prosecute a Muslim student in Idaho for posting Internet website links to objectionable materials, even though the same links were available on the U.S. Government’s web site.

House Democrats are responsible for the passage of the Patriot Act...44 Democrats supported the bill while 14 Republicans opposed it.

Enough Republicans switched sides....With a 257-171 margin, it is clear that had the rest of the House Democrats upheld their duty to the constitution this would have been defeated 213-215

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http://clerk.house.gov/evs/2005/roll414.xml

The following list of democrats in the House of Reps should be fired.
(list of dems voting for the patriot act again)
Andrews
Baca
Barrow
Bean
Bishop (GA)
Boren
Boswell
Butterfield
Cardin
Carnahan
Case
Chandler
Clyburn
Cooper
Cramer
Davis (AL)
Davis (FL)
Davis (TN)
Edwards
Emanuel
Etheridge
Gordon
Green, Gene
Harman (bitch)
Herseth
Higgins
Holden
Hoyer
Lipinski
Marshall
McIntyre
Melancon
Menendez
Miller (NC)
Ortiz
Pomeroy
Reyes
Ross
Ruppersberger
Schwartz (PA)
Scott (GA)
Skelton
Spratt