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Parts of the Patriot Act Ruled Unconstitutional

Posted by samzenpus on from the if-you-have-nothing-to-hide dept.

BlueBlade writes "According to this CBS story, a federal judge ruled Wednesday that two provisions of the USA Patriot Act are unconstitutional because they allow search warrants to be issued without a showing of probable cause."

2 of 414 comments (clear)

  1. This will sound very pessimistic by Zombie+Ryushu · · Score: 3, Interesting

    I have a feeling that in some way we will see a repeat of the Indian Removal act with this. Congress and the President will say: The justices have made their decision, now let them enforce it.

  2. Re:And this took how long? by Jeff+DeMaagd · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I think the history is that the courts have allowed temporary wartime injustices like this in the past, loss of habeas corpus during the Civil War (if you suggested peace with the South you might be arrested), internment of Germans in WWI, and the internment of Japanese in WWII.

    The problem is that the current administration wants to have it both ways, wartime/emergency/crisis powers and wants the domestic life to otherwise behave as if there is no emergency, such as repeatedly cutting taxes, despite deficit spending.